A Princess' Nobody
by SpindlyWhale410
Summary: It all started out simple with Kairi arriving on the Islands on that tragic night. But fate and destiny had other plans. Kingdom Hearts AU. No pairings. 1st POV in later chapters.
1. Stormy Night

**I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy**

With one small step onto the wooden surface that was the docks, she stared off far ahead at the island before her. And then her fearful blue eyes looked upwards to the heavens, where the night sky had long since been shrouded in thunderous clouds which seemed to make everything almost pitch black.

This of course made everything in front of her harder to see, as she started taking hesitant steps forwards towards the island's small land.

From the moment she saw the dark clouds brewing mainly upon the island, she knew that something was wrong.

Normally on a rainy night, the clouds would extend out far into the mainland as well, and storms restricted to the island's shoreline boundaries were less than a rare occurrence.

What made Kairi all the more concerned, was the fact that upon her arrival, she had noticed a recognisable boat marked up by scratches, tied to a wooden post and floating up against it in choppy waters.

"That's Riku's boat..." Kairi thought to herself out loud, and she held a hand to where her heart was. She could feel it pumping and beating at a rather fast pace against her ribcage. Somehow, it was telling her that something was not right. Something was amiss.

If Riku was here on the island as well, then that would mean that he too was alerted to this strange weather phenomenon. Immediately her eyes began darting all around the side of the island she was on.

Destiny Islands felt more like a ghost town, without all the liveliness that she and her friends poured out onto the sands, and the beautiful and glistening Sun that shone its light upon its shores.

Sometimes even she wondered whether or not the island was filled with ghosts and creepy haunts from another lifetime. While her adoptive father the Mayor had assured her that there were no other occupants to the islands since the town's founding, there were dark parts where his words felt contradicted.

Speaking of which, Kairi felt bad for not informing her father about coming out to the islands this late at night, and he was not one to take lightly to her disobediences. As soon as this whole thing was over, she would have to come up with some explanation for her actions, and hope for the best he would not punish her. But for now however...

Shaking those thoughts out of her mind, Kairi maintained steady breaths to retain calmness as she ventured forth.

Calling out his name, Kairi worked tirelessly to find Riku. She scoured the entire island, every nook and cranny. The shorelines. The Seaside Shack. The Cove.

But at every location, she just could not locate him. Stopping short just beside the waterfall, Kairi folded her arms and began to think things over.

"Nowhere to be found..." she wondered to herself, "If I can't find Riku in those places where we frequent, then where could he be?"

Looking back to the docks, Kairi took note that Riku had indeed went back to the mainland on his own boat. Ever since they had hit ten-years-old, she and along with Sora had been told by Riku that they were too big to fit into his boat. Hence, he began to teach them how to row their own boats.

But Kairi always thought that Riku was just becoming too lazy. And coincidentally, so did Sora! Behind Riku's back at every turn during his lessons, they would converse in private and joke about how much Riku was not happy about them growing taller and bigger.

And to this day she still remembered the funny joke that Sora made. "I think he's thinks his boat is crying from our added weight! You can see the water leaking in from the sides!" The first time she heard it, Kairi founded herself on the sand, holding her sore sides from all that laughter. While most of the humour had died off by now, it still earned a giggle out of her every once a while.

But she admit that it was becoming a little too old, as Riku had mentioned a while ago. But if he thought that that would mean his troubles were over, then he had another thing coming! Kairi was pretty confident that Sora would come up with some new story about Riku's boat. She would kill to see Riku not being able to hear the end of it.

"Kairi…" a voice suddenly derailed her train of thought, and Kairi jumped in surprise at the sound of it. "W-Who's there?" she asked, her eyes were darting all around her to seek out the source. "Kairi… I'm here…" the voice muttered out faintly across the winds.

While it almost barely audible, Kairi could make out those words. And judging by the words used, it stands to reason that only one person would be saying it now. "Riku?" she muttered out with worry.

She began looking around again, hoping to look for some sign of her friend.

"Riku! It's me, Kairi! I'm here!" she called out in a terrified voice, "Where are you?" "I'm here…" Riku's voice responded, and this time it was much clearer. Clear enough for her to pinpoint the general direction it was coming from. Staring on ahead into the blackness that was the hidden entrance to the cave, Kairi realised that that was the final place of the island she had not checked yet.

She sighed internally and made a mental facepalm. "Of course, he would be in there!" she muttered to herself, "Should've started with the Secret Place first!" She quickly ran over to the entrance which was almost completely covered by a tree branches full of thick leaves, excluding the base.

Kairi crawled underneath the branches and got back up to her feet on the other side. As she quickly dusted herself off, Kairi stared at the cavernous pathway that lied ahead of her. On a normal day, she would not feel that creeped out about how spooky the place felt.

But somehow, this time she felt that something… was different. It was almost like she could feel something sinister lurking, awaiting her at the end of the road.

But she could not turn back now.

If Riku was here, then that would mean that he ran into trouble along the way. And now she was possibly the only one who could save him.

If she could save him.

She let loose a shaky breath, and steeled her resolve for what came next. With a determined look, Kairi ventured forth towards the Secret Place.

With every step she took, the distance between herself and her destination shortened, and with it, came a sense of uneasiness.

But Kairi shook it off.

"No! I can't falter now!" she thought to herself, "Riku needs my help!" Without a second thought, her walk turned into sprinting as she burst forwards. As she reached the opening into the Secret Place, she caught sight of a figure in the room that she could not immediately identify.

Even so she was crying out with relief, "Riku! I was so worried! I saw your boat and –" But she halted in both mid-sentence and her stride, once she got a better look at the figure. The darkness at first denied her the colours of the person's clothing, as well as his personal features.

But as soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness however, they were widening with surprise and terror at what they saw.

Against the carving of the brown door at the back of the room, the outlines of the figure could be seen. It looked like was wearing a cloaked robe of sorts.

"W-Who are you?!" Kairi demanded, and she put on her best intimidating face.

 _This world has been connected._

Kairi did not know whether she should feel frightened or confused by this cryptic message. But immediately she could tell that this guy was bad news.

"I'm asking you a question! Who! Are! You!" she demanded once more, this time she was pointing an index finger at him.

 _Tied to the darkness…_

 _Soon to be completely eclipsed._

It looked like the figure was either ignoring her, or was not interested in giving her a proper answer. So Kairi decided to play along with him.

"What do you mean by that?!" she questioned warily, "There is no such thing as darkness in this world!" Much to her surprise, the figure let out a low, dark chuckle.

 _You understand so little._

And then he began to take small steps forwards. Kairi in-turn started taking hesitant steps backwards. In those tense seconds, she could feel her resolve breaking, her confidence faltering.

Why she had not already turned tail and run away from this creep, she still could not say.

 _One who knows nothing can understand nothing._

And then the room lit up a little, as though there was some hidden artificial light source was turning on. Now Kairi could get a good view on the figure.

His robe has two dark brown straps crossing over his shoulders and chest with five metal studs lining either strap. He also appeared much shorter and crippled in the way he walked, and the robe's hood kept his face well-hidden.

Almost immediately, Kairi had a bad feeling that she may be in serious trouble. Now she was contemplating retreat from the room, which was starting to make her feel more like a cornered mouse against a hungry cat. But just she was starting to turn around, the ground gave way at her feet.

Wait, the ground was _giving way_?!

With a cry of terror, Kairi felt herself sinking into what appeared to be a pool of dark matter which had materialised from out of nowhere around her. Out of pure instinct, she attempted to struggle herself free. She tugged and pulled hard at her trapped legs with scrawny arms, to no avail.

But then the sinking feeling stopped halfway, right at her knee level. And that was much worse, for now she was forced to contend with the mysterious enemy from her state of entrapment. She stared down the robed figure, her eyes mixed with fear and anger.

In a split second however, the figure suddenly disappeared, much to her surprise.

 _Such strength within yourself..._

 _You are... a_ special _one, aren't you?_

Once more, Kairi was looking all around at her surroundings from her stuck position, as she frantically tried to figure out where the figure was.

One thing was for certain, the figure had not left the Secret Place. And he was not through with taunting her yet.

 _Your heart is strong with the light._

 _Give me the pleasure of taking it away?_

The sound of a loud explosion came from behind her, and when Kairi looked out, all she could see were bits of brownish robes... as the figure went right through her being. As he did so, a strange feeling started to go through Kairi's entire body. It felt like there was a part of her that was being ripped away.

And all of a sudden, Kairi started to feel weak. Her strength had been drained even though she did not exert herself that much. She was so tired to even care about the pool of darkness disappearing, which set loose her legs and causing her to tumble to the ground.

She felt the pain of the impact, but she made no emotion to acknowledge it. And then she realised with a small gasp – she could not _feel_ anything.

Fear. Joy. Sadness. Anger.

She could not express any emotion whatsoever.

"W-What did he do to me...?" she murmured softly to herself as she struggled to get to her feet.

All at once, her arms and legs felt numb, and her muscles and bones felt like jelly. It took her several tries just to get onto her knees, and it took her several minutes to get onto her feet. But even when she was back up, Kairi could feel her body leaning sideways quickly, threatening to collapse onto the ground again.

As she continued struggling to regain her bearings, she heard booming knocks coming from the door. Wait, the door? Kairi looked on ahead to the door expressionless, and she could make out the surface bending outwards a little, as well as bits and pieces of the darkness coming out from the cracks.

"It's finally opening..." Kairi muttered absentmindedly, as she was unknowingly beginning to lose consciousness, "Maybe I can get to see..." Her vision was getting blurry. And her head was starting to throb.

With every second that went by, Kairi became much weaker than before.

But she could not care about it. How could she, when she had no emotion to convey through her facial features? Whatever that mysterious figure did to her, it must have robbed her of her emotions. And its effects were only getting much worse.

Just then however, a new voice called out her name from behind her, "Kairi!" It was familiar. But it was not Riku's. It sounded younger, and worried. Looking around to face her other friend, Kairi muttered out in monotone, "Sora..."

If she was able to emote, she would be both overjoyed and worried to see her other best friend at this time on the island, but such was not the case.

Once he saw the emotionless look on her face, as well as hearing that bone-chilling tone, Sora began to become really concerned and worried. What's going on with Kairi? What happened to her?

Before he could open his mouth and actually voice out his questions, Kairi suddenly began to glow.

In a yellowish-white hue, Kairi partially illuminated the Secret Place, as though she were an angel of sorts. Sora himself was taken aback by this scene, and all that he could do was open his mouth in agape, and his eyes were widened with surprise and wonder.

But then came the sound of the door swinging wide open, causing a great gust of wind to blow in Sora's direction. Because Kairi was standing in front of him, and in the path of the wind, she was practically tossed out in his direction like a ragdoll.

As she flew right at Sora, Kairi lost all control of her senses, and she could barely make an audible sound. With no emotion, she also could not brace herself for the imminent collision with Sora.

The distance between the two friends quickly closed.

Kairi made contact with Sora's body.

She knew no more. 

* * *

Sora was gasping with terror as Kairi's body exploded into a thousand orbs of light that dispersed into the wind.

"W-What happened...?" he thought to himself in surprise, just when the darkness from the door exploded outwards, causing Sora to be blown back out of the Secret Place.

As the winds died down once more, a lone figure donned in a black hooded coat stared at the empty room from within the dark depths of the other side of the door, where he had witnessed everything play out between the three characters.

As soon as Sora had 'vacated', he stepped out into the Secret Place, and scanned the area to see if the girl was still around.

With narrowed golden eyes of anger, he softly seethed, "You fool..."


	2. No XIII

With small, soft groan, she slowly began to stir out of her slumber. One by one, her muscles began twitching in movement as her mind began to start up again. Her senses followed after, as her skin rubbed uncomfortably against the hard, rough, uneven surface.

And then slowly, she opened up her eyes, and her vision slowly cleared. But she did not like what her vision was showing her. The terrain appeared to be dark and brooding, and it gave of an aura of sinister.

From the looks of things, she appeared to be in dangerous territory.

She needed to move. Now.

With an effortful heave, she struggled to rise to her knees with the use of her arms that were aching for reasons unknown. But the pain became unbearable, and her arms buckled and gave way. She collapsed back onto the ground with a hiss of agony.

She was in need of recovery. She was in need of aid.

"Whoa there! Don't exert yourself!" a foreign male voice spoke to her all of a sudden from close by, "Here, allow me." She felt cold, gloved hands wrap around at her shoulder and arm, and she jumped a little at the touch. And she founded herself being hauled up to her feet, with almost little effort.

At that point she took a close look at the stranger that helped her.

In terms of clothing, the stranger wore a black hooded coat, its sleeves close up tightly around his arms and emphasizes his lithe and skinny build. And along with the black gloves and boots, she could tell that there was probably nothing else that he wore underneath the coat.

The stranger had fair skin with rosy hues, a widow's peak, rather small eyebrows and thick, shoulder-length, bright red hair styled into slicked-back spikes. His eyes were a bright emerald color and he had a purple reverse-teardrop shaped marking under each eye.

Combining all of those traits together, and they all make the stranger look quite tall and intimidating. At least in her perspective. But knowing that thanks were in order, she struggled to do her best, to do just that and ignore the physical appearance of the said-stranger.

"T-Thanks..." she said to him in a soft, nervous voice.

The stranger waved a hand, "No problem. It's not every day I see an innocent girl like you laying here in the Realm of Darkness."

"R-Realm... of Darkness...?" she mumbled softly with confusion.

The stranger nodded with a hum, "The place where all things dark and evil lurk. Don't wanna go into specifics, but let's just say that everything here's quite... _animalistic_."

"Animalistic...?" she parroted softly in confusion with a blank tone.

With an exasperated sigh, the stranger muttered to himself, "Talk about 'blank' with a capital 'B'..."

If he were that nerdy or scholarly, he would do a full rundown of how all the inhabitants in the Realm of Darkness would attack and devour any poor unfortunate soul, the first chance they got. But he was not, and he knew that without a change of subject, this was going to drag on forever. And he did not have that time.

"Look, let's just get you out of here and back to the Realm of Light," he said to her, "No doubt there's a bunch of those things that have picked up on your heart, and I do NOT wanna go another round with 'em after I scared 'em off from you just now. Capisce?"

He outstretched an arm before him, and an oval, obsidian black portal of darkness appeared. It seemingly lead on into unseen paths of darkness.

Looking back to her, he questioned, "Mind telling me the name of your home world?"

She nodded back, "My home is..." Her words faltered and her sentence was left hanging cryptically. It was at that moment that a sudden realisation dawned on her. She could not **remember**.

Noticing this, the stranger raised an eyebrow, as though he was waiting patiently for an answer. But after a moment of silence from her, he had a feeling what could be ailing her. He had to be sure however.

"Okay, scratch that for now," he said with a wave of his hand, "How's about a name?"

"M-My name…" she mumbled, and once more she found herself not knowing what her name was. She felt as though there was a huge part of her mind that had been emptied. Her entire slate of memories was wiped clean. How could this be happening all of a sudden? Not even a fraction of her entire life could she recall.

"Yup, it's official – you've no memory to recall," the stranger proclaimed with a sigh, "Which for some reason I don't find surprising." "I think… I do retain some memories," she defended weakly, "I can feel it… in here." She placed hand over the part of her chest that housed her heart.

But to add on to her confusion and horror, she could not feel the vibrating beats of her heart. It was as though her heart was not even there to begin with. The stranger looked on with grimness at her widening eyes of realisation, and then he quickly put two and two together.

"Of course. No memory, no name, and no heart," he stated, "Looks like you've become a Nobody."

She looked up to him with a small gasp, "A Nobody?"

The stranger nodded his head, "What you're experiencing is just an after effect of what happens when a Heartless strips your heart away from your body. What gets left behind, is basically just an empty husk."

She stared at him. "Heartless…" she mumbled blankly.

"Man oh man, we're gonna go circles 'round this…" the stranger thought to himself exasperated. "Look, what's most important now, is that you need some help," he pointed out, "And luckily for you, my Superior knows a thing or two about this kind of situation."

He outstretched his hand to her, and she instinctively took a step backwards. Seeing her nervous expression, he slowly explained, "I'll take you to my Superior, back at HQ."

She looked down at the ground for a moment, as she contemplated her answer.

This was just too easy. He was giving her an offer to come with him, without any additional compliances. That reason was enough for her not to trust him. She would much rather be far away from the likes of him, than be brought back into a possible fox's den.

But then again, if she did refuse his offer, then she risked the possibility of having to fend for herself. If not here then in another world, if this man was kind enough. And because she had no memory, she was not even sure if she had any sort of formal training in combat before all of this.

She slowly opened her mouth, and she decided to ask a question first.

"Name…" she whispered, almost to a point that it was barely audible. The stranger hummed in confusion, "I'm sorry, what? Didn't catch that there."

"Your name… please?" she spoke out normally, and she looked up to him.

At this, the stranger gave off a slight grin and introduced himself, "Thought you'd never asked. The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Taken aback by the supposed return question, she stuttered back, "U-Um… s-sure…" But just then, from out of nowhere, creatures of all manner of darkness emerged from portals on the ground, surrounding the both of them.

Seeing them made her run over to Axel, and she clutched at his arm for dear life. Axel himself on the other hand did not appear to be fazed by the new arrivals. "As you can see, these are the Heartless," he plainly told her, as though he were a tour guide.

He lifted one hand and snapped his fingers, and in an instant, a wall of fire encircled the duo, and blocked off the Heartless.

He looked back down to her and said, "Now you REALLY have to come with me." She stared at him in horror. He was really going to leave her here, if she refused?!

Without any further comment, Axel grabbed onto her hand, and he quickly led her over to the Corridor of Darkness.

"Don't worry, kid. I'll make sure to put in a good word for you," he assured her, "At least until we get to the higher-ups." The duo brisked their way into the inky darkness, and the portal closed off behind them.

For a moment, she saw nothing but inky blackness, and then she came out of the other side. Unlike the last world, this one was much more civilised. There was no monster, no creepy terrain, no foreboding atmosphere. Instead, it was the complete opposite, with the environment feeling much more comforting.

As she studied her new surroundings, she saw that she was in a huge open room with a huge wall behind her made completely out of glass. She also noticed the couches and tables spread around systematically, and strangers that wore the same black coats that were using them.

And those said-strangers had begun turning their attention towards Axel, and then to her. She instinctively looked away from them all, and simply stared on ahead. Hoping that not one of them would come over to get a closer look at her. But such luck was not to be.

"Well, well…" a gruff voice exclaimed with a hint of smugness in his tone, "Look what Flamesilocks here has brought back!"

She could here those footsteps approaching, and she shrunk closer to Axel's side.

Feeling this gesture, Axel took a glance at his colleague with wore an eyepatch over his right eye, and a large jagged scar that extended from his left cheek to just under his left eye.

"Keep off, Xigbar," he warned him, "It's her first time here."

Xigbar feigned surprise and chuckled, "First time? You mean she's a possible next member? As if!" And then a hand came down on her shoulder hard, and she winced at the pain.

"She doesn't even look Organization material! I can bet on my eyepatch that the Boss Man's not gonna include this Little Miss Blondie!" She nervously played with a lock of her long, blonde hair (Did she always have blonde hair?).

"I'll take that bet!" another stranger sounded off cheerfully, his tone sounded tomboyish, "No taking it back now, you here?!" Xigbar removed his hand off of her and turned to him.

"I won't Demyx, if you let me tear your lyric books if I win!" he challenged back.

Demyx gasped, "No! Those contain all my hard work!"

Leaving the bickering duo behind, Axel led her onwards through the headquarters of what Xigbar mentioned as the Organization.

Along the way, they passed by more of Axel's supposed colleagues, but thankfully none of them were giving her a glance.

Except for the blonde-haired girl, who gave her that intimidating, raised eyebrow, glare. While she was happy that this Organization also had at least a female in their ranks, it did not help that she felt much more scared of her compared to the rest.

Eventually, they arrived at a stairway that led upwards to the next level of the building. And here was where Axel had stopped in his tracks. Apparently, there was another member here, and unlike the others she had seen, he had long blue hair that flowed outwards.

"What is it, Axel?" he questioned her guide, with a cold, calculating and sinister monotone that made her feel nervous around him. "I've found another one, Saïx" Axel reported back in response.

At this, the man slowly turned around, allowing her to gaze into his golden eyes. She also noticed the X-shaped scar between his yellow eyes that extended to about halfway up his forehead in one direction and to just under his eyes in the other.

Saïx looked down at her, his eyes bore down and pierced deep into her soul. He looked to Axel and gave a short nod. He waved a hand and summoned another Corridor of Darkness.

"The Superior is in the Round Room," he stated coldly, and then looked back down to her. She struggled not to look away from him, out of fear that he was already testing her courage.

A small frown formed on Saïx's face, and then he began heading off into the portal. Axel looked down to her and said, "Beyond here, the Superior will be the one to decide your fate. Are you ready?"

She looked up to him and muttered, "I've nowhere else to go. No family, no home… nothing. If your Superior doesn't accept me… who will?"

Axel was taken aback by this response, but he quickly shrugged it off and replied back with a nod. With gestured with one arm to the Corridor. "After you," he offered kindly with a smile.

With a nod, she stepped forth once more into the pitch blackness, and Axel followed close behind.

When she appeared out of the Corridor, she founded herself in what appeared to be a circular room. All around her, there were marble throne-like chairs, different in terms of ranges in height. At the centre of the room, there was a huge insignia of an upside down Heart symbol.

"Is she the one?" a bold, menacing voice asked, and immediately her attention was turned to the highest chair in room, upon which sat a silver-haired man was who staring at her with watchful golden eyes.

"Yes Lord Xemnas," Saïx informed him from his chair that was two seats away to the Superior's left.

Nodding with acknowledgement, Xemnas proclaimed, "The candidate will approach."

Realizing that it was her cue, she slowly approached the column that held Xemnas' chair. At the same time, Xemnas began to lower his chair with a wave of his hand, and it slowly went down with a low rumble.

Off to one side was Axel who was watching the initiation ceremony with much anxiety, or at least he was trying to emote. Saïx on the other hand, he kept his wary eyes narrowed at the newcomer.

Somehow, he thought that there was… something _off_ about her.

As soon as his boots were at ground level, Xemnas rose from his chair and slowly approached the quiet girl, who was staring down at the floor just from his mere imposing presence.

Axel glanced from her to the Superior, and was quite impressed by just how much power the Superior had by just his appearance alone.

Even Saïx himself would try to cower himself away once in a while, but in a more controlled and emotionless way. Axel had teased him on that fact a few times before, and Saïx would naturally respond by doing the normal thing Saïx would do – kicking him into the Soundless Prison.

His sense of humour was funny that way, even without actual feelings.

Xemnas stared down at her for a long and silent moment, as he contemplated his judgement in his mind. All that time, she maintained her instinctive fear of the man. She tried to focus her attention on the insignia on the floor instead, and the designs that made it.

And then the Superior began to speak.

"You seek answers," he said solemnly. Looking up to him, she muttered a soft, "Yes." "Do you remember… your true name?" Xemnas questioned further.

In response, she gave a small shake of her head. Xemnas hummed, "Unfortunate, to be sure. However…"

With a wave of his hand, literal letters appeared before in front of her in a translucent, rainbow-colored font. They seemed to be spelling out a word.

"K-Kairi…" she mumbled softly as she stared at the word floating before her. Was this… was this her true name? But how could she not remember it?

"You now stand before me. Alone. Afraid. Cast out into the in-between of Life and Death," Xemnas said with a dark smile, "But this need not be your doomed fate. I can give you… a new purpose."

The name KAIRI split apart, allowing a large 'X' to appear in the middle.

Xemnas pointed to it, "This letter... it is what symbolises our allegiance to the Organization. However, you are not like the others that came before. You are… different."

It was at that point that Saïx could tell from the Superior's gradual change in tone, from joy to wariness, that he too shared his concerns. There was something not right about this girl.

Xemnas clenched his fist, and all the letters began to swirl around her, as though a vortex was about to be created using her as a source. And then he opened his palm and the words stopped once more in front of her.

This time, the name KAIRI was no longer there, instead it was a brand new name.

"Naminé…" she croaked out as she spelled it out.

Xemnas nodded with pursed lips, "Yes… the new you."

Axel was left shocked with his mouth open and hanging. This was the first time that Xemnas was giving a newcomer a brand new name, instead of just rearranging it with an additional X. And he wasn't the only one to have that line of thought.

Saïx too was shocked at this new development, but for a completely different reason.

To him, a member of the Organization without an X to the name was an outsider. How was this girl so special, that she was given a new name?

He swore that he was not going to play nice with this newest member.

With a snap of his fingers, Xemnas produced a black coat for the newly named Naminé. "With this uniform, you shall become one of us," he offered her.

Naminé reached out and took the black coat.

Xemnas straightened up his back and boldly proclaimed, "Welcome to the Organization, Number XIII."

* * *

 **Traverse Town (Sora's POV)**

 _"Come on, lazy bum. Wake up."_

With a lazy groan, Sora began to stir.

What was it that Kairi wanted this time?

She always had a nasty habit of waking him up from his afternoon nap, just to get him to do something for her. Not that he dislikes her for doing that.

But seriously, could he catch a break once in a while?

He sat up from the bed and shook the cobwebs loose from his head. "Man, how long have I been asleep this time?" he wondered in thought.

Sora hoped that it was not evening time yet. His mother would probably be worried sick and wondering why he was not back yet from the Islands. But that was when the present caught up to him.

When he opened his eyes, Sora took note of the environment of room he was in. Everything felt unfamiliar to him. From the wall colors to the lights on the ceiling. Everything felt different here as compared to home.

And then he remembered all at once. The Islands getting destroyed. Riku disappearing into the darkness. And Kairi... But that was when he heard her voice again.

"Ahem!" she coughed to get his attention. With wide eyes of shock, Sora looked around to see her.

See her standing beside him at bedside. See her looking down at him with her hands at her hips, as though she was trying to act like a worried mother.

Sora never dared to open his mouth once about Kairi being a terrible actress. He would never hear the end of it from her.

"You okay?" Kairi asked him with much concern. Sora hummed and nodded, "I guess..." At least he had confirmation that what happened on the Islands between her and him was just the darkness playing tricks on him. He was just so happy to see that she made it okay.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade," Kairi said, "But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."

If he were in different circumstances, Sora would have wondered how and why Kairi suddenly had so much knowledge about those dark creatures. But that was not the number one topic on his mind.

He formed a relieved smile on his lips, "I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi." But then Kairi became _surprised_ by his statement.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about?" she questioned with raised eyebrows, "I am the great ninja Yuffie!" "Huh?" Sora muttered in confusion.

All of a sudden, a second later another female figure stood in Kairi's place.

She had short hair and wore a metal headband with two green tassels. She also wore a yellow scarf is wrapped around her neck, a green tube top two blue belts holding it up, tan short-shorts with another loose, blue belt around her waist, white socks that reach about mid-thigh, orange shoes, and mesh sleeves on her arms that disappear into orange, fingerless gloves with black bands constricting the ends.

She appeared much older by about a few years, and she was also much taller, considering that she was bending her knees just a bit to be at Sora's eye level. By the looks of things, Sora reckons that this was Yuffie. And would mean...

He felt sadness filling his heart. So it seemed that what happened to Kairi was real after all.

After a silent evaluation of Sora's condition, Yuffie looked over her shoulder and commented, "I think you might've overdone it, Squall!"

Sora looked to where Yuffie was looking, and caught sight of a man who was leaning lazily against the wall. He recognised him as the one who unceremoniously knocked him out during their little match.

He wore black gloves, black zipper-lined shoes, a silver lion head crest necklace, and a white undershirt. His black jacket was short-sleeved, bore red wings on the back, and has a red symbol (similar in design to the necklace) on each shoulder. The most notable feature about the man was his scar, which runs diagonally across the bridge of his nose.

He glanced at Yuffie with narrowed blue eyes once she called him by name, and moved away from the wall. "That's _Leon_ ," he muttered in an emotionless tone.

From the way he spoke, Sora could guess that he was a no-nonsense kind of person. One who would never take a joke.

And then his attention was drawn to the weapon leaning against the wall beside Leon. The sword that was shaped like a giant key. The one that he had used to fight those creatures, and the man that he fought against some time ago.

Noticing his stare, Yuffie said to him, "We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures."

She walked over to Leon's side and turned back to him. "Turns out, that's how they were tracking you," she added in.

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon spoke up with folded arms, "But it won't work for long." His eyes glanced from Sora to the Keyblade with much doubtfulness.

He reached over and grabbed the weapon by its handle. "Still... hard to believe that you, of all people, are the Chosen One..." he muttered softly.

He held out the Keyblade sideways, and in an instant, it disappeared from its grip in a flash of light. A second later, Sora founded it in his grasp.

"Well... beggars can't be choosers..." Leon said and went up to Sora.

Up to this point, Sora founded it agonizing to just listening to all this fantasy about him being the Chosen One and this Keyblade magic.

All that he wanted to know now was what were those creatures. How was it that they were able to destroy an entire world?

He placed the Keyblade beside him on the bed and shot up onto his feet. "Why don't you guys start talking sense?!" he demanded in a frustrated tone, "What's going on here?" But before he could get his answer, he spotted something on the round table close by.

Ignoring the choice of words Leon was giving him right now with regards to his attitude, Sora quietly approached the table.

His eyes were transfixed on that small object. The item that somehow rang familiarity to him.

"Uh, hello...?" Yuffie called after him with confusion. He had not given her his name yet, so 'hello' was her second-best choice.

Sora reached over with a shaky hand, and brushed his fingers against the necklace on the table. "W-Where... did you get this..." he asked Leon and Yuffie in a softened tone.

"That thing? Aerith found it lying outside of the hotel when she left earlier," Yuffie explained, "She felt some sort of powerful enchantment radiating from it."

"We're still unsure as to whether or not it's a good or bad sign," Leon added in grimly, "So we're keeping it here in case the Heartless desire for a couple of powerful trinkets."

Sora fell silent as he continued to stare down at the necklace on the table. "It's here…" he muttered softly to himself, "Of all places…"

All of a sudden, his mind flashed back to a time long since passed. To a much simpler time. Back on Destiny Islands…

* * *

 _It was another hot and sunny day upon Destiny Islands. But the day was soon coming to an end._

 _Eventually, the two seven-year-olds had to return back to the mainland. Back to their parents. If only they could have spent more time here._

 _Despite the limitations of fun on the Islands, they still made the best of that handicap._

 _But there was one thing that had been bugging Sora for quite a while, and he was itching to just ask Kairi about it. But because of the time they had spent playing with Riku earlier, Sora was not afforded any quiet time with her, especially since Riku always had to drag him into his made-up games._

 _Riku had left sometime ago, considering that he needed to finish his homework. And now without his big mouth around, Sora saw his window of opportunity._

 _Riku had always been to make sure he did not get away without some form of embarrassment._

 _"So Kairi, I have noticed the necklace you wore often," he said to Kairi as they walked along the beach's shoreline. Kairi looked to him curiously, "Of course! Why do you ask?"_

 _Sora shrugged, "I don't know… Maybe I guess it's because I see you playing with it from time to time. So I got curious."_

 _For a moment Kairi's smile faded, and then she looked down at her necklace in silence. Noticing that she had stopped in her walking, Sora came to a halt and turned around to face her._

 _"Kairi?" he called her, but she gave no response in-turn. It was as though she had become entranced by her necklace that glistened brightly against the sunlight._

 _And then Kairi looked back up with that usual giggle of hers. Her lifted up her necklace, allowing Sora to get a closer look at it._

 _"This was given to me by my grandmother," she explained, "But... that's pretty much as far as my mind would let me remember."_

 _"Really?" Sora looked up to her, "You mean… you don't remember anything else besides that?"_

 _Kairi shook her head, "No. I guess there are a bits and pieces here and there but… it just feels like trying to reel in fish that always seems to break free from the hook."_

 _Sora chuckled, "Yeah, I can imagine."_

 _He thought back to the time when the three of them went fishing together._

 _During that time, Riku challenged both him and Kairi to a round of who could catch the most fish within an hour. Out of all three of them, Riku was obviously the expert. He had managed to catch eight fish._

 _Sora and Kairi on the other hand however…_

 _Kairi herself was already doing terribly in trying to cast out her fishing line, whilst Sora was unable to catch more than two fish. And yet for all of his smugness, Riku showed some sympathy for the two of them._

 _He took it upon himself to help them with perfecting their fishing skills. And gradually, the competition turned into a lesson on fishing, but in Riku's own way which involved him cracking jokes here and there, demonstrating just how much of a klutz Sora is, and how Kairi is a slow learner._

 _Kairi grinned from ear to ear, and she recited one of Riku's banters at Sora._

 _"Watch where you toss the line! You swing like an insane monkey!" she exclaimed with open arms in a dramatic fashion._

 _Sora rolled his eyes with a laugh, and then fired back with, "Don't give me any of that, Kairi! The worm's dead so just hook it!"_

 _He felt a playful push on his shoulder, and he felt quite satisfied by her embarrassed response._

 _"That was so mean of you, Sora!" Kairi feigned hurtfulness and gave him a crossed look, "You know I hate playing with dead animals in my hands!" Sora shrugged, "But Riku said it was easier than swinging a rod around like a monkey!"_

 _This time he saw Kairi smiled mischievously, her hands balling into tight fists. Realizing what this meant, Sora gulped down a figurative lump in his throat. He was in serious trouble now._

 _"U-Um... d-did I hear the boat calling for me?" he stuttered with a nervous grin as he slowly backed away from her, "N-Not that it's REALLY calling for me literally, but –"_

 _Kairi started pacing after him slowly, "Sorry, Sora. That trick's not gonna work a second charm for you!" She swung her right fist at Sora, who telegraphed it by ducking under._

 _Recovering quickly, Sora turned heel and began to run like crazy right for the docks._

 _With a gleeful laugh, Kairi hollered after him, "Get back here and face your punishment!" She broke off into a sprint, and she shot off down the sandy ground straight towards her target._

 _Sora pushed himself forth with all his might, but it was apparent Kairi was pushing harder once he glanced back to her catching up with him._

 _"C-Can we talk about this?!" he pleaded weakly as he struggled to maintain a far distance from Kairi._

 _"The only thing you're gonna talk with, is my fist!" Kairi responded back with a sly grin, and she raised her balled fist._

 _Looking from her to the docks, Sora realized that he not going to make it._

 _"Eat my knuckle sandwich!" Kairi proclaimed dramatically, and her fists went down at its target location._

* * *

"Hey!" the sound of Yuffie's voice, and the sting of her fist colliding with his shoulder, brought Sora back to the present.

With widened eyes of surprise, he looked up to the young woman who had somehow transported right beside him. She was giving him a concerned look.

"Leon was asking you if that thing belongs to you," she said, with a nod back to Leon who was watching wordlessly from the door.

She looked back to him, "Not wanting to push things too quickly but... well?"

From her, Sora's eyes glanced back to the Kairi's necklace on the table, and he was locked onto it for a brief moment.

He reached over and gently picked up the necklace by its pendant, and he lifted it up to get a closer look at it. Once more his mind projected images of Kairi from various stages of her childhood, and coupled with the trauma he had witnessed back on the Islands, it was simply just too much to bear.

Closing his eyes tightly, his hand closed around the pendant firmly, and held it close to his heart. Deep inside his heart he made a silent vow.

Kairi was in danger. Someway, somehow, he would fight for her safe return. He swore that he would not rest until he reunited with Kairi once more, or die trying.

"This belonged..." he finally muttered out his response to both Yuffie and Leon, "To someone dear to my heart..."


	3. Let Training Commence!

**Note: This is where the 1st POVs will start.  
**

* * *

 **The World That Never Was – Round Room, Day 2**

Atop of his seat that overlooked the remaining twelve, the Leader of the Organization was listening with much intent of the report that Saïx was giving him with regards to Larxene's performance in one of the worlds they recently discovered.

Also present in the meeting were Xigbar and Vexen.

Xigbar for all the while had remained expressionless throughout Saïx's report; Vexen was the one doing the grinning job for him.

The pair had always been at odds with one another, especially when it came to difference in attitude and personality.

As soon as Saïx was done speaking, Xemnas had a moment to dwell on his final judgement. With a stroke of his chin, he mused, "It would seem that Larxene is quite a fast-learner."

"And quite adaptive too," Vexen chimed in with his usual scholarly tone, "Why, we could put her in say a hot and scorching wasteland, and she still could –"

"Argh... spare us the lecture, Professor Know-It-All," Xigbar groaned exasperated, which earned him a glare from the scientist, "What we really should be focusing on now, is the new kid!"

Unhappy about being interrupted, Vexen had open his mouth to retort, but then Xemnas cut in, "Indeed. What do you all make of her thus far?"

"She is quiet, wordless, and is quite obedient for a newcomer," Saïx responded bluntly.

"I think she is quite respectful and poised," Vexen stated with a chuckle, "When I spoke to her a few hours ago, she humbly called me, "Sir". Of all the members coming after myself, I think I'm taking a liking to her the most."

"All because she acknowledges your supposed 'higher rank'? As if!" Xigbar taunted with a scoff, "Anyone could sing praises of their higher-up with sugar-coated phrases, but behind his back, they're actually thinking to themselves, "What would I give to kick that guy in the –""

"If you were arguing based on emotional facts of an ordinary person, you would be right!" Vexen retorted back with a sneer, "In this case however, you are wrong. We are Nobodies. We can express no actual emotion. Try as you might with your antics and that garbage mouth of yours, but to me you are acting as though you were in a school play!"

"Xigbar. Vexen," Xemnas growled his disapproval at their little banter, and immediately both of them kept their lips sealed tight.

"My Lord, if I may raise a concern to you?" Saïx enquired, and he fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair. Xemnas looked to him with the grimmest of expressions and nodded.

"You wish to know why is it that I gave Number XIII a brand new name," he voiced out Saïx's question. He closed his eyes and hummed deeply, "As you had witnessed yesterday, I made mention that Naminé is a special case."

"A special case?" Vexen parroted as he leaned forward with intrigue.

Saïx did not like the grin the scientist was giving Xemnas. Whenever Vexen gave off that expression, it meant another experiment was not far behind.

Since the beginning of the Organization, Vexen would experiment on a handful of Nobodies, regardless of whether they were lesser beings or they were newcomers to the Organization. Group-wise, his victims included Larxene, Zexion, and the person sitting across from him, Saïx, who was frowning his disapproval at the scientist.

The experiments overtime started to become much more extreme and erratic, and Vexen became so obsessed that he even started to perform operations on the brains of his test subjects. It was because of this unrelenting madness that Larxene changed from an innocent, lively girl, to a whiny, insane brat, and caused Saïx to lose most of his emotions except for anger.

Once Axel had witnessed the drastic change in his friend's character, he reported Vexen's actions to Xemnas, who in turn locked the scientist in the Soundless Prison for a couple of months. When he was released, Xemnas declared that his experimentations on the Nobodies banned.

Yet ironically, the one thing Vexen had done right was to improve the state-of-mind of Zexion. The once soft-spoken and timid boy had now become a literal bookworm, and he was easily the most enigmatic member of Organization XIII. Although it did not transit well on the others.

The leader still remembered Vexen's incident and frowned at his curious expression as he spoke, "Whenever new members are brought into our fold, I would sense the hollowness within their shells. Their lifelessness. However, when Naminé was brought before me, I sensed something... different."

And that was what bothered him the most.

"What does it matter if you sensed something out of place inside of Blondie?" Xigbar questioned with a roll of his only eye, "As far as I'm concerned, she just another short and naïve little Nobody kid for me to play around. I've been itching to throw my weight 'round someone since Zexion gained a couple feet."

"It was in light of that, that you had a restraining order against Zexion," Saïx told him with narrowed eyes, "And now, because of your tone towards the Superior's troubling state, that now also applies with Naminé. We do not need a repeat performance of what happened all those years ago."

Xigbar scoffed, "What? You're actually scared that I'd hurt even a hair strand on that little girl? As if!"

"Need I redraw your attention to Zexion's mentality performance tests I conducted?" Vexen sneered at him, "Time and time again, he had suffered a prolonged state of depression as a result of being close to your person."

"For a twelve-year-old, he was rather pathetic," Xigbar snarked back his remark with a chuckle.

Vexen's eyes twitched, "You insult my protégé..."

"And watcha' gonna do about it, Mr Know-It-All?" Xigbar challenged back, "Put me on the table and cut open my skull to play with my brain? No thanks! Especially not after what you did to Larxene, Zexion, and Saïx over there."

Vexen looked ready to launch out of his seat and attack the Organization's Number II, and he was already rising out of his chair.

But that was when a barrage of electricity was shot, barely missing him by a hair's length.

Crying out in surprise, Vexen fell back into his chair as the electrical tendrils hit the wall behind him, which resulted in a thunderous explosion of debris.

With a shaky breath, Vexen looked behind him to see the large scorch mark now painted into the white wall, and then looked back to the Superior.

With his hand still outstretched, and smoke emanating from his glove, Xemnas narrowed his eyes dangerously as the scientist.

Immediately, Vexen shrunk further into his seat, and so did Xigbar once Xemnas darted his attention towards him as well.

Saïx continued to watch in silence as Xemnas retracted his hand back, and he slowly took it as a sign that he had calmed down.

"Lord Xemnas..." he called to him, slowly and cautiously lest he wished for a taste of the Superior's 'discipline', "About Naminé's position in the Organization..."

With cold, calculating eyes, Xemnas frowned at the Luna Diviner for a brief moment, as though he was searching for any signs of malice or treachery within his shell.

And then he spoke out, "It is apparent from the reactions of most in this room, I will not be able to share this confidential information to the entirety of the Organization. Therefore, until such a time that all of you prove your loyalty to me, I will withhold my explanation."

With gritted teeth, Vexen glared daggers at Xigbar, who was grinning back at him in apparent triumph as though he had wanted this to happen. Saïx was feeling livid on the inside by his question being left unanswered, but he chose not to vent it out in the open.

"Now, if there are no more objections, I would like to introduce our newest member to the rest of the Organization," Xemnas stated. He turned to Vexen, "Number IV, inform the other members to report here immediately."

"At once, sir," Vexen complied with a bow. But then he looked up to him with a worried look when he suddenly contemplated something.

"B-But sir... some of the members... They will not stand for this!" he voiced it out. "We will burn that bridge when we come to it," Xemnas told him bluntly, "Now do as I say, or my next barrage will not miss."

The scientist gulped down hard, and he glanced again to the large, black spot on the wall behind him. A Corridor of Darkness enveloped his seated form, and he vanished when it dissipated.

With that nuisance gone, Xemnas looked to Saïx, "Tell Axel to bring Naminé here immediately."

Saïx bowed his head, "At once, Lord Xemnas."

But just before he left, Xemnas added in, "Inform him also, that he will be Naminé's charge, at least until she has acquired the necessary combat skills and magic spells for her missions." Saïx's eyes widened at this request, but then he shook off that pretense emotion before Xemnas could take notice.

With another bow of compliance, Saïx vacated the room via a Corridor of Darkness. Once he was gone, the only other member left in the Round Room besides Xemnas looked up to him and questioned, "Right, like you did that just so you could quickly get this meeting over with!"

Xemnas shot a raised eyebrow at him, "And what brought you to that deduction?"

Xigbar shrugged with a laugh, "Oh, I don't know... Vexen because you'd just give him another 'special' Nobody to experiment on behind your back, and Saïx 'cause he asked you about your decision on Naminé."

He grinned like a maniac, "And that leaves only me, Number II, the only member to never have done either of those two actions throughout this whole mini-meeting."

Xemnas frowned, "True, but you did make mention of your intentions to… pick on Naminé."

The two words 'pick on' sounded foreign on his tongue.

Xigbar waved his hands, "Nah… that was just for laughs. Saïx and Vexen can boast all they want 'bout Zexion's quote-unquote 'condition', but those test reports were based on Vexen's continuous tests on the kid. That goof-off of a scientist can exaggerate all that he wants, but I know he gets too caught up in the blur."

Xemnas's reaction was what he expected. Instead of disciplining him like he did Vexen, Xemnas just simply showed a fraction of an amused smile.

"I knew there was a reason I made you Number II over Vexen..." he proclaimed with impression.

"Hey! Just because I'm an expert sharpshooter, doesn't mean that I'm just another brawns-over-brains kinda guy," Xigbar stated with a chuckle.

He leaned outwards with much curiosity, "So... what is it that makes Naminé such a golden goose?

* * *

 **Hall of Empty Melodies, Day 7 (Naminé's POV)**

My first few days in Organization XIII was spent trying to get accustomed with everything within this place. The Castle That Never Was, as they called it. **  
**

And the first lesson that I learnt was that in this world, every inhabitant was an empty shell, with no heart to speak of.

Which is quite fitting for someone like me, seeing as how I too have no heart to house emotions or feelings. And up until now, I still do not have any memory of what happened before becoming a Nobody.

It was quite depressing, as from what I have discovered; the other 12 members all retained their memories of their previous life.

Because Axel was the one who brought me here, Xemnas charged him with overseeing my accommodations as well as my training. And thankfully, in spite of my misgivings, Axel was actually quite patient with me. Whenever I did something wrong, he would point out my mistake and give me a soft pat on the back. And he also taught me quickly in how to express my feelings through pretense, which was surprisingly easy to act out.

Also whenever he made a joke, I would actually find it funny, unlike the ones Xigbar make just to make me nervous.

And speaking of whom, whenever I entered the Grey Area lounge, I would see Xigbar attempting to negotiate the return of his eyepatch from Demyx, who apparently won their bet.

It was something of a funny entertainment to be sure, that is until Demyx dragged me into their argument and asked for me to defend him. Thankfully Axel pulled me out of there before things got really tense between myself and Xigbar. But ever since then, I swore to stay as far away from them both as possible.

After getting acquainted with my colleagues (the ones that I saw daily at least) for the past six days, Axel was now to commence my combat training. And we were going to do it here, in the Hall of Empty Melodies.

According to Axel, the Organization rarely uses this place for special events, so most of the members simply used it for sparring sessions.

As we reached the centre of the room, Axel said, "Here's how we're gonna do this: I will gauge you first on your performance with the blade, and then I'll see how I can train you."

I looked to Axel dumbfounded, "Y-You mean…?"

"Why of course!" Axel responded with a playful glare, "What? You thought I was just going to start teaching you, without even knowing what I'm up against?"

Well, the more that I think about it… he does have a point. It wouldn't make sense to just teach someone what you know, only to see them fail because you failed to see what makes them great, and what makes them weak. Axel looked to be much more wiser than I thought.

Axel walked over to the other side of the makeshift sparring arena, and extended out his hands at either side of him. As I watched in awe, two circular Chakrams appeared in his hands in a great flurry of fire.

As he got into his attack stance, he shouted to me, "Alright, we'll take this slowly!"

Nodding back, I held out my right hand, and in a flash of crystallised light my newly fashioned weapon appeared in my grasp. It was a sword that was supposed to grant me the control over the power of Light itself. And according to the one who made it, it was one of the most powerful weapons ever used by an Organization member.

The one who created it, Vexen, made it specifically for me two days after my induction. And when he gave it to me, he seemed quite pleased and overjoyed with how I thanked him with a bow.

It appeared that he desired much respect from those whose ranks were lower than his.

Anyway, the blade itself was tinted silver for the inner area, and white for the outer part of the blade. The surface was nicely polished, enough for me to view my own reflection. The handle of the blade was short – just enough area for just one hand to wield. The hilt was decorated with a crescent moon carving at the base, and sharp, yellow-colored crossguards that extended at nearly a quarter of the length of the blade.

Holding out in front of me in a defense stance, I nodded my head, "Ready!" With an ecstatic grin, Axel began charging right at me, twirling his Chakrams about with his fingers. At the same time, I steeled myself and attempted to watch Axel's movements carefully.

When he was just a few hundred meters away, Axel leaped up into the air and tossed one of his Chakrams right at me like a boomerang. It was worrying to say the least when I saw that the weapon was now completely covered in fire, but nevertheless I tried to remain steadfast and fearless.

When it was close enough, I swung my sword at it with one hand.

Despite its appearance, once I started to carry it, it felt much lighter than I thought. Perhaps that was the reason the sword was designed to be one-handed.

Thanks to the lightweight, I was able to move more quickly and nimbly to hit away the Chakram like a fly swatter.

For a brief second, I watched as the circular blade flew away from me, and then I suddenly founded myself landing on the ground, with Axel's boots pressing hard against my chest.

After getting back the Chakram that flew back to its user, Axel hummed in thought as he looked down at me.

"Easily distracted…" he muttered to himself.

Unwilling to go down that easily, I took a swing at his exposed legs. Axel quickly blocked my attack with one of his weapons and leapt off of my chest.

But as I began getting up, Axel began to go on the offensive again from the air with a hail of fireballs.

With no opening to exploit a counterattack, I was forced to run and dodge all of the fireballs that came my way. Noticing this, a grinning Axel hollered over the flames, "Why run, Naminé?! This party has yet to heat up!" With both of his Chakrams now fully ablaze, Axel swooped down and began to deliver quick and fast swings at me.

Everything became quite a blur at this point. My movements were only limited to taking steps back, and blocking.

All that I could see was just hot, burning flames, and swinging Chakrams. I could feel myself tire, the muscles in my arms burning (no pun intended and don't tell Axel), and my body felt like giving way.

Then all of a sudden, Axel swatted my sword out of my hand and sweep kicked at my boots, effectively causing me to lose my balance. I fell down to the ground with a cry of surprise.

But before I could hit the ground, I felt Axel's hand grabbing tightly onto my arm.

When I gazed upon his face again, I no longer saw the intensity in those green eyes. They were much calmer, more gentle, as though the entire spar never happened to begin with.

He pulled me back up to my feet and willed his Chakrams disappear.

"Yup. Just as much as what I expected," he stated, "You are lacking in technique."

"T-That's… what you call 'take it slow'?" I panted out to him, and I made a weak glare.

Axel frowned back, "Hey, don't look at me like that. Just because you're a girl and you know me more than the others, doesn't mean that I'm just gonna sugar-coat this whole training for you."

He folded his arms, "And besides, when you really go out there to perform your duties, you're gonna face-off against foes that aren't gonna show you any mercy. Given the chance, they'll kill you where you stand. Keep that memorized."

And with that, Axel turned and began walking off. "Take a break. We'll start again once you're ready," he called over his shoulders.

With fatigue slowly beginning to set in on my shell-like being, I slowly began stumbling my way over to where my sword was. But within a few steps, I already felt like collapsing onto the floor. Yet somehow, I felt this strange warmth within myself that was pushing me, telling me to keep going.

It felt like an eternity of walking through an endless sea of darkness, until I finally stumbled upon my sword.

I was quite careful in attempting to pick it up, in light of my entire form shaking like a leaf from Axel's "first lesson". And yet on my first try, I ended up stumbling backwards.

* * *

He watched her in silence from near the entrance to the Hall, as she continued to attempt picking up her sword with no success.

From the way he saw it, it would seem that he may have been a bit too harsh on the girl, considering it was her first time using a weapon to fight.

"For a girl her age however..." he muttered to himself, "She's quite endurable on her first try. But still, I may have gotten a bit carried away..."

"You were administering at just the right level," the voice of his friend said hollowly, as he walked into the Hall and stopped right in front of the red-hair.

Axel gave off a welcoming smirk, "Fancy seeing you here, ol' buddy ol' pal. What brings you to this almost-abandoned part of the Castle?"

"I came to check on Naminé's progress in her training," Saïx stated bluntly, "Lord Xemnas is awaiting my report on her performance thus far."

"A report? Already?" Axel parroted with a playful chuckle, "It's just her first day doing combat." Saïx narrowed his eyes at this, "First day, you say? You were supposed to commence her training three days ago."

Axel stroked his chin dramatically, "Is that right? I could swear that the Boss Man said that I could begin her training once she had fully settled in."

"If you had pay any attention to the rules and regulations our Superior has set for the Organization..." Saïx admonished in restrained calmness, "You would know that he only permits a period of three days for newcomers to get accommodated."

Axel folded his arms, "And you would know those new rules only come into effect in three more days. As far as I'm concerned, the current ones call for _five_ days, which means I ain't breaking any rules. Comprende?"

Saïx could feel his anger reaching his boiling point. Just one more snarky remark and he might descend into his Berserk State.

As much as he was tempted to discipline his friend through physical means, Saïx thought better, seeing as Naminé was still in training and that Axel was the only one whom she trusted.

He casted a glance at the girl in-question, and briefly watched her failing efforts to simply pick up her weapon.

To say that Saïx was frustrated by Xemnas's withholding of his response with regards to Naminé's status in the Organization, was an understatement. The more he observed her, the more his anger gave way to curiosity.

And then it slowly occurred to him.

Xemnas had mentioned that she was a 'special case'. That would easily translate into: she is extremely important to Xemnas, more so than the entire Organization.

If that were so, then Saïx would have to find out just how _special_ Naminé was.

Once he had witnessed her abilities and what she could potentially do, he would make his judgement as to if she would either be beneficial to his plans, or become his greatest threat.

Looking back to Axel, Saïx knew that it was imperative that he continue working on Naminé's abilities.

And with himself being charged with keeping track of Naminé's training progress, Saïx would be able to alter his plans on the fly, should Naminé display more... unexpected powers. And judging from Axel's change in expression, Saïx knew that his friend too had the same idea.

Which was quite helpful, seeing as it would keep most of the members from suspecting their plans for overthrowing Xemnas as the Organization's leader.

"I supposed I could inform Lord Xemnas of your 'slow-but-efficient start' in Naminé training for the past three days..." Saïx muttered, and Axel could hear his strong emphasis on the last three words.

Axel smirked with a grin, "Gee, thanks man. I knew you would stick up for me."

"In spite of your constant behavior," Saïx stated coldly, "Be thankful that I still remember you as a friend before all of this. Otherwise, the situation would have been much more... unfortunate for you."

Turning around, the Luna Diviner began marching out of the Hall, leaving Axel to dwell in his own dark thoughts.

* * *

I took in steady, deep breaths as I held my weapon within the palm of my gloved hand.

Finally, after many times of struggling, I had finally managed to simply just pick up my weapon. And relatively speaking, it was kind of pathetic to say the least.

Me, out of possibly the entire Organization, not even able to retrieve my own sword. I was shaping out to be a fine warrior indeed.

If that was how strong I was now, then it only goes to show that I still had a long way more to go if I was to become at least knowledgeable in the art of combat.

"Well, looks like you finally managed to pick up your sword," Axel remarked as I heard him walk back towards me.

Without even turning to acknowledge him, I did my best to fight the urge that was building up inside of me, to be annoyed.

Somehow his voice was starting to become a bit grating on my nerves.

Axel smirked when I made no response, "And looks like you're starting to become a rebellious rookie." I turned back to him, another glare was plastered on my usually innocent features. And still I made no attempt to retort.

Sometimes, it was just best to convey your thoughts through expressions, no matter how emotionless they were.

Axel on the other hand, simply let out a laugh, as though he thought it to be some kind of joke. "If looks could kill…" he commented with a casual wave of his hand, "Well, anyways… ready to get back to training, rookie?"

I was taken aback by his question. "T-That's how long a break is?" I stuttered out.

Axel grinned as he folded his arms, "I told you that I'd start out by observing your skills, which are little to none by the way. And besides, that little test was only just no more than five minutes."

At my pleading look, he leaned forward like a disappointed parent, "What? You're giving up already? You really want the Superior to change his mind?"

I gasped at that, "H-He can…?"

Axel grinned once more, "'Course he could! He's the boss that runs this whole operation! If he doesn't like what he sees in new recruits, then he could give the order to eliminate their existence!"

"Was that true?" I thought to myself. It should not be possible, considering that I was told that members once chosen were inextricably linked to the Organization for life, regardless whether they were still in existence or not. No replacements. Surely, my mentor must be be joking about that... right?

But just before those horrid words could register with my mind, my mentor patted my shoulder with his hand.

"But don't you worry though, I'll make sure you're in tiptop shape toot sweet!" he assured me with an eyewink, "Besides, if you were dead, it'll probably hurt me more than it hurt you; gotta keep up my reputation amongst the guys, y'know?"

Once more, I saw the friendlier side to this jerk, and I could not help but smile a little. I hated it.

Here he was, already off to a great start – running me like a racehorse and still being able to make snarky comments. It was that side of him I absolutely loathed.

And then there was his usually, cheerful side. He was there to pick me up and encourage me to carry on, even when my weaknesses were there for him to see. He did not care about 100% success. He only cared about seeing things through – the way he thought best for both himself and me.

My mood became a little brighter than before. With Axel around, I was hopeful that my time here in the Organization would be more tolerable. After all, most of the other members were already taking less of a liking to my mere existence here.

Until I earned their trust and respect, Axel strove to become my shield against these predators.

"Here," Axel said as he pulled out a green bottle from his coat, "Drink this. It should make you feel like that test never even happened." I winced at the 'T' word as I took the bottle from him.

I stared down at the item curiously, noting the word 'Elixir' was engraved upon the plastic surface.

From the looks of it, especially the green of the liquid within, the Elixir bottle was some sort of healing potion. I nodded my thanks to Axel and proceeded to uncork the bottle. Staring at the contents within the Elixir once more, I toom a deep breath before I started take a refreshing sip.

The taste… how should I say it? It was about as similar to mango juice as it can get. But unlike mango juice, the Elixir did something which no fruit could ever do.

As the green liquid flowed down my gullet and into my tummy, I started to feel a lot more rejuvenated.

Within seconds, my strength had been replenished, and my aches and pains were quickly subsided. With an exhale of relief, I felt fresh and renew.

Axel noticed this and asked, "So, how do ya feel, kid?"

I looked to him with a smile, "Feeling above and beyond a thousand percent would be an understatement."

He laughed at my answer, and then stated, "That's good and all, but such a pick-me-up comes at a price, like say at about 1600 munny – about all that I've saved up to this point. So, you'd be wise to conserve that Elixir bottle whenever you can; use it only when it's an emergency."

I nodded in understanding, "Yes, of course! I have it memorized."

Axel grinned, "Whoa, now you're stealing my catchphrase too? Now that's just wrong. Only I can say that the right way!" He tapped his forehead, "Got it memorized?"

We both shared a laugh for a few moments. Now I am really am grateful to have someone like Axel in the Organization.

After a few moments the laughter had died down, and Axel took a moment to catch his breath.

"Hoo! Takes a lot outta a guy!" he remarked with a pant, "Hadn't laughed like that since…" And that was when a crestfallen look suddenly took the place of that joyful expression.

I noticed this and became a little worried.

Was Axel recalling something? Could it possibly be from his life before the Organization?

But as quickly as it came, it switched back to that happy mood again as Axel shook himself out of whatever he was thinking.

"Anyway! Let's say we start working on those basics, shall we?" he chirped with his usual grin, "Maybe we'll go with your footwork first, then work our way up from there!"

I slowly nodded back, my mind still thinking about that gloominess that my mentor was displaying just seconds ago.

Somehow, I just felt sorry for Axel. From the way he acted just now, it almost felt like he missed those days when he still had a heart, when he still had emotions. But now, he was just an empty husk, a shell of what he used to be, a shell devoid of any real emotion.

And maybe, just maybe, he was the same way that I was when I joined the Organization days ago.

Did he hold that same level of uncertainty and fear within him when he joined, just as I did? Surely, other members must have felt the same way when they lost their own hearts?

All that feeling of loss, hollowness, and emotionless, all that being left inside of heartless bodies, and being forced to live out their days with pretense emotions like in a terrible theatre play.

Such a plight I would never wish upon even the cruellest or animalistic of people, regardless of whether I came across any in my previous life or not.

Maybe Axel amongst all the others was the only one who was not willing to let go of what used to be part of his life, what used to shape him as a somebody.

Maybe he was acting like a friend around me, not just because I bore the appearance of a young, weak and innocent little girl, but also because he did not want that same hopelessness upon me as it did the rest of his comrades.

It that were the case, then no words could describe how much I am grateful towards him.

It was most probably some anomaly that accidentally happened out of the blue, and chances are that it may never happen again in this existence of mine.

With an even wider smile, I nodded back once more at my mentor's proposal, but the response was so much more than just that. It was my resolve to reciprocate the gift that Axel gave to me, even if it was only just a few days.

If Axel could make me feel like I still had a heart, why could I not do the same for him?


	4. Field Trip

**The Grey Area, Day 12 (Naminé's POV)**

With a stretch of my arms, I let out a tired yawn as I sat down against a comfy sofa in the lounge room. Although to be more precise, it almost felt like falling backwards onto the sofa, with my aching arms and legs laid out lazily. And who could blame me for my couch potato-like state?

For the past five days, Axel had been working my butt off like crazy.

He had been drilling me in my footwork, to basic slashes with my sword, to basic defence tactics, to running rounds around the Hall of Melodies.

And even the morning exercises of push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups he made me do were unrelenting in pushing me to my breaking point.

Through agonising screams, sweat and tears, I somehow managed to pull through. And with all this suffering, the benefits were slowing starting to take form.

It was evident by my arms, though lanky as they were, starting to bulge out into leaner muscle. And my tummy, which was slowly starting to harden and form abs.

But now it had come to a point where I deserved some much-needed rest.

After all, Lord Xemnas was continuously monitoring my progress and from what Axel had been telling me, he was quite pleased with the results thus far. Even some of the members were starting to cast glances at me, hinting that the news was spreading around quickly.

"Naminé," the cold, calculating tone of Saïx called me from behind.

I managed to turn my head around slightly, just enough to acknowledge the blue-haired zombie-like man walking into the Grey Area at his pace.

He stopped just behind the sofa I was resting at and narrowed his eyes at my exhausted framework.

"After much deliberation regarding your training, the Superior has decided to administer to you your missions," he told me, "Starting today."

My eyes widened at this declaration, but the man seemed to be unaware of it as he continued, "For now until further instructions, Axel will continue to monitor your progress. He will also be teaching you the basics of the Organization's goal for the next few days, so you would do well to heed his words to the letter. Is that understood?"

I grew a little hesitant at first, but knowing Saïx's attention span, I knew it wise to not dwell on such thoughts in his presence.

"Yes, Saïx," I responded back with a nod of my head.

His golden eyes narrowed at my response as though to say, "We shall see.", and I could almost feel them staring right into my soul. It was like my first day here all over again, and I did not like it one bit.

And then he turned around and began walking away. Passing by my mentor who had just arrived in the lounge room.

"Ensure that she's mindful of what she has learned thus far," he reminded Axel, in a way that sounded more like an order. Axel chuckled dryly, "Hey, it's me!"

The two parted ways in opposite directions, as Axel now approached me in Saïx's place.

"Well, you look a little worse for wear," he remarked once he saw my exhausted position on the sofa.

I glared at him in silence, as I had no strength to even fire back a retort.

All I cared about at this moment was getting some nice rest and sleep. I could not care less if today was my first mission.

The aches in my arms, abdomen, and legs deprived me of my tiredness when I tried to sleep last night.

With that in mind, I laid back my head and closed my eyes slowly, as slumber finally began to set in...

And then I suddenly felt a pair of strong arms hoisting me up from the comfy couch.

"Come on, you! Upsy-daisy!" Axel encouraged me as he lightly slapped on my cheek a few times to make sure I was awake, "Can't have you slackin' off already, not when you've a lot to prove to the Boss Man!"

This time I managed to find my voice, and I weakly hollered back, "I'm sorry if I'm not feeling excited and energetic this morning! I had a lot taken out of me from the defence training you drilled into me yesterday!"

Axel frowned with unamusement and slight exasperation, "Ain't that the whole point of this gig? You are a member of Organization XIII, and you've an important duty to fulfill. And if you're aching, it means that your muscles are adapting."

He reached into the right side pocket of his coat, "But obviously we don't have time for aching arms."

He handed me another bottle, "Here, take this Hi-Potion. Should fix you up enough to at least swing your sword."

Taking it absentmindedly, I took a quick drink and allowed the contents within to nourish my body.

Once my aches and sores had subsided and my strength restored, I wiped the remaining liquid that stained my lips.

"Now you feelin' excited?" Axel asked me with a smirk. I glowered a little, "Remains to be seen. As long as you don't take yourself out."

Axel scoffed with a grin, "Me? I'd be more worried about how you perform today!" He outstretched his arm, and a Corridor of Darkness opened behind him.

"Besides, I gotta make sure that you can eventually learn to stand on your own two feet," he added in, "Without me holding your hand of course."

I rolled my eyes at his explanation and started walking into the Corridor. Unknowing that I was walking much faster than I normally did, Axel was forced to brisk to catch up with me.

Inside the inky blackness once more, I heard Axel's calls for me to slow down.

But I forced myself to do nothing of the sort.

If he wanted for me to stand on my own without support, then I'll show him my brand of independence. I'll prove to him that I can manage on my own, that his help was not necessary.

After all, this was my first mission, and I will showcase nothing more than the best of what I've learnt thus far.

And then all of a sudden, I felt a stinging pain that began eating away at my hands. With an agonising cry, they clutched each other tightly as I pulled them both closer to my chest.

Axel who had heard my cry, cried out, "Naminé? What's the matter?"

I opened my mouth to form a response, to tell him that I was okay. But then the aches went up to a ten, and I let out another painful shriek.

Not being able to tolerate the torture any longer, I slowly began to falter.

One leg gave way, and then the other.

Then the knees gave way as well.

I barely registered Axel's cries of worry through my continued screams as I crumpled onto the ground. The pain in my hands were starting to travel up through my arms, and up to my shoulders.

Within seconds, my entire form felt life it was engulfed by invisible flames.

Because of all of this darkness, I could not tell if I was dying or fading away. But I did have an idea how much pain I was going through.

It was extremely excruciating.

It felt like the surrounding dark entities were attempting to snuff out whatever I had left within this shell of mine.

Whatever the reason was, I did not really care about it. What was running through my mind was nothing but pain and agony.

"W-What did I do to deserve this?!" I thought desperately in my mind. As far as I knew, all I did for the past few days amounted to little, or nothing at all.

And still, I had managed to get on the wrong side of most of my colleagues. Maybe it was because of the way I look? Maybe it was because the Superior something different in me?

Even now, I had wished to discover just how different a Nobody I was.

But now, if this was truly the end, then I may never get that chance to – wait, if this was truly **the end**...?

N-No, i-it can't be! I can't die now, not while I still had so much to learn! My Nobody age was just twelve-days-old, and now I have been chosen to become one with the darkness finally!

I was scared and fearful for whatever remains of my life. Axel had spoken once or twice before about what happened to Nobodies after fading away.

The harsh truth was that we become nothingness in and of itself.

We were never meant to be, and our final fate would be much deserved of our kind.

But I never wanted to believe it. Not when I thought that this 'second chance' was given to us Nobodies for some reason.

It meant that someway, somehow, we still had a way to regain that which we had lost.

And Lord Xemnas had already provided us with our eventual salvation, its light shining in the starless sky.

But just as I was ready to resign to my fate, I felt a strong pair of arms hoisting my body up, and with relative ease. As I felt my arms hanging out lifelessly, I heard that worried voice of my mentor screaming out, "Hang in there Naminé! We're almost there!"

I felt my lips move up and down of its own volition, and I mumbled something unintelligent.

I could not tell if Axel had caught wind of my babbling (thanks a lot, darkness!), but I could him running at a quickened pace.

"Just keep breathing! Can't have you kick the bucket now!" he coached me on as he continued pushing onward.

The condition of my mind was now semi-conscious, but I obediently did as Axel told and struggled to breath as normally as I could.

This time it was no joking matter; it was a life-and-death situation. And Axel will be damned if anything happened to me.

I suspect he may not forgive himself, more so than the Superior not forgiving him.

Just when I thought that Axel may not even make it, a speck of light caught my sight.

As we got closer, it grew brighter and brighter, until it forced my eyes shut to avoid permanent blindness. A few seconds later, I opened my eyelids again, to find that we were no longer within the darkness.

And as quickly as it started, the pain subsided upon my form leaving the Corridor.

As though I was submerged underwater for a long time, I began gasping for deep breaths of fresh air.

"Ah... there we go..." Axel gasped with relief as I felt him slowly lowering my frail form onto the ground as though I was a baby.

Thankfully, he allowed me a few precious moments of silence, to catch my much-needed breath and regain my bearings.

At the same time, I was thinking to myself, "What in the world happened in there?"

The first time I walked through a Corridor was when Axel first brought me to the Organization, and nothing happened to me that day.

So how was it that today, the darkness of the portal hurt me physically? It just did not seem possible! Especially because it was out of the blue!

As soon as I felt like I was at least at seventy percent, I slowly started to get up again. But with just a little stumble out of balance, Axel was immediately at my side, pulling me up gently by my arms.

"Easy now..." he chided softly. I huffed with my reply, "Easy for you to say..."

"No seriously, what the heck happened in there?" Axel questioned me with a seriously worried look. I shook my head, "I don't really know..."

Now Axel was really concerned.

He gripped me firmly at my shoulders, "C'mon Naminé, spit it out! If my training's went a little bit too over the edge, just tell me! Huh!"

Almost out of exasperation, I shrugged off his hands and waved him off.

"No! It's not because of the training, Axel," I told him assuredly, "I think it's something else..."

With a deep sigh, I tried to explain my experience the best I could.

"It felt like... something was attacking me, both physically and internally. Like... it was trying to destroy whatever's left inside of me..."

Axel took this information to heart (no pun intended), and he looked as though he was contemplating something.

"Could be that..." he mused, but then pointed a finger at me.

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head slightly in confusion.

"Or maybe it's because your exposing more of yourself than you realise," Axel stated.

I was still confused, and I shook my head.

Sighing, Axel specified, "Your hands are gloveless."

At this, I slowly looked down and stared at my hands, fingers, palm, nails and all, exposed in the sunlight of this world. Much to my shock, they were not looking as healthy as I thought they would be.

The state of my hands at this point, looked as though they belonged to an elderly person. Instead of its normal, soft, smooth surface texture, my skin was now wrinkled, rugged and pale.

But I also took notice that the lines were slowly fading off, which meant that at least my hands were healing.

"Now you see why we can't remove our gloves," Axel told me with folded arms, "They are meant to be worn to protect our hands from the tainted corruption that dwells within Corridors. And to an extent, they also protect our bodies, considering that the hands would be the first ones the taint targets."

I lowered my head as I thought about it. It made perfect sense. The hands are the most used parts of the body.

But then another thought came to me.

"But my head was also exposed," I said as I looked back up to my mentor, "Wouldn't the taint turn my face all, um..."

I shuddered to even finish that sentence. I could not dream a nightmare where I looked myself in the mirror, to come face-to-face with an elderly version of myself.

Even Axel looked a little disturbed about that thought, but he shrugged it off quicker than I did.

"Your head is more resistant to the taint," he explained, "When we're gloveless, our minds are quite strong enough to fend off any effect, at least temporarily. But you'll still end up getting pretty a freakish makeover."

I cringed slightly at his remark.

"But with the gloves on, your body shouldn't be affected. Although a couple of our colleagues also don their hoods, just to be on the safe side."

"In that case..." I mumbled as I fumbled with my fingers; they felt much more smooth and normal now. "I'd better stand on the safe side too."

Reaching into my coat pockets, I fished out my gloves. Axel noticed this with a tiny frown.

"You had 'em the whole time..." he grumbled annoyed.

I gave him a small glare as I put them on, "A few minutes ago, I would've appreciated a warning."

"And how could I have done that, when you were so busy marching into the portal, full of excitement?" Axel questioned back with a glare of his own.

"Not excitement," I stated as I adjusted the gloves on my hands for better comfort, "Determination." "For what exactly?" My mentor asked me with a raised eyebrow.

I smirked inwardly, "To make sure that you don't mess up our mission."

At this, Axel gave a chuckle. "Is that right? Okay, tough girl, then how's about a challenge?"

He turned around to take a good look of the town, "Our mission today is simple: wipe out the Heartless in the Tunnel."

He turned back to me, "The challenge? Take out as many Heartless as we can in 30 minutes. The one who gets the least kills, treat the other to sea-salt ice cream later. You up to it?"

"U-Um... I mean, sure but..." I stated unevenly, "You don't really mean that I have to..." This was not what I was expecting.

Axel grinned widely, "What? This is what the Organization's trained to do: take out the Heartless. And besides, you said it yourself – you'll make sure "I don't screw this up", right?"

Mentally, I was quaking in my heeled boots and gulping down a lump in my throat.

I have to fight? Like, I really have to fight and _kill_ things? Why do I have this feeling that this was not my style? And speaking of which...

"But how do we know where the Heartless are?" I asked him.

I watched as Axel let out another deep sigh of exasperation. Seems like he had a lot of explaining to do.

"You'll know 'em when you see 'em."

Oh! Okay... I guess that was 'explanatory' enough. But I could not help but laugh mentally at the fact that Axel was definitely annoyed at teaching me a lot of exposition about the Organization, and that was not part of his character.

"Come on, follow me," he ordered bluntly, as he started marching off. As I quickly followed suit, I took notice of my current surroundings.

Right now, I was in the middle of an open plaza right in front of what appeared to be station. As my eyes arched upwards, I caught sight in awe of the towering vertical building that was constructed atop the station.

By the looks of it, it appeared to be a Clock Tower. Adorned at both sides of the main clock, there were two curved antlers where two bells were hanging at either side like apples on an apple tree. The numbers on the clock itself were characterised as Roman numerals.

As I turned back to Axel, I noticed that he was heading right in the direction of what appeared to be an entrance which led underground; located just to the left of the station.

Axel took one glance behind and noticed that I was about ten steps behind.

"Keep up, Naminé!" he spoke out in an orderly tone, "Can't have you losing your way in the tunnels." Instinctively, I raced to catch up with him.

Staring at the entrance we were approaching, I asked Axel, "So we're heading down there?" "Mmm hmm," Axel hummed his reply.

The two of us quietly walked into the entrance and I kept my focus up ahead, as we descended downwards. Soon, we had entered into what appeared to be an underpass, or rather, a network of underpasses that connected different points of the world together.

"Well, here goes nothing..." Axel mumbled to himself. He then looked to me, "Remember the rules: Whoever picks off the most number of Heartless within 30 minutes, earns himself an ice cream treat from the loser."

"Well then I have to do this quickly," I responded back with a shrug, "Since you're much more experienced than me."

Then all of a sudden, the first group of Heartless for our mission appeared right in front of us out of nowhere. There were five of them.

All appeared to be vaguely humanoid in structure, had round, spherical heads with circular, glowing yellow eyes. They also had two long, twisted antennae sprouting out of the top of their head. Each of their hands had three clawed fingers, and their feet were large and lacked any discernible digits.

"Well, looks like these Shadows are early to the party!" Axel remarked with an elated grin. In a flurry of flames, he summoned his Chakrams and advanced forwards before I could even react. Within a few seconds worth of slicing and dicing, Axel made short work of these Heartless (Shadows as he described them).

When the last Shadow was destroyed, Axel exclaimed, "Whew! Not even ten seconds and I'm already off to a great start!"

In turn I folded my arms and glowered at him in annoyance. "You did that on purpose!" I snapped accusingly.

Axel grinned at my reaction, "Uh oh, looks like someone's getting ticked off!"

Just then, another band of Shadows appeared, six to the right, and four to the left. Naturally, as hot-headed as he was, Axel opted for the bigger group.

"BURN BABY!" he screamed out like an insane person as he blazed his way through the legion of Heartless that were appearing down the corridor he was heading off in.

Before he disappeared around a corner, he hollered back to me, "WE'LL MEET BACK THERE IN THIRTY MINUTES!" And with that, I was left staring at the scorched earth that my mentor had left behind in his wake. And then I looked back to the four Shadows that were slowing advancing on my position.

I mentally steeled myself with a deep breath, and then I summoned my sword into my hand. At some point before today, I had taken the liberty to name it Hallowed Light.

With my eyes narrowed in determination at the Heartless, I advanced forwards.

With my first few slashes at the closest Shadow, it did not disappear immediately compared to Axel's first strikes, which did not surprise me. But I did not let that hold me down.

With a battle cry, I brought my sword down on the Shadow in a graceful arc, and the blade cleaved through its body like knife through butter.

I stared open-mouthed as the Shadow exploded into a cloud of darkness, which proved to be a momentary mistake for the next Shadow was starting to claw at me.

I barely managed to defend myself before it could land a strike at my face. When the attack had let up, I swiftly retaliated with three strikes to its torso.

As the second Heartless split into half, I turned my attention towards the remaining two Shadows. Except that there was only one of them.

"Where did the other one go?" I wondered in thought, but decided that it was not important for the time being.

Gripping tightly the handle of my sword, I charged at the Shadow, who in turn was charging at me – but in a more comically sluggish way. I raised my sword up high; the creature was raising a clawed hand as well, and we both brought our tools of destruction down on one another.

The outcome was clear within a few seconds, with the Heartless disappearing and me standing as the victor. The only damage inflicted on me was the tiny rips at my cloak, close to my collarbone.

Taking a moment to recollect my strength, I surveyed my surroundings to find the fourth and final Heartless.

But that was when I felt a sharp, excruciating pain shoot through my abdomen. With a cry of agony, I founded myself launched off of ground, and hurtling backwards towards a wall.

I landed harshly against the vertical surface, and on my bleeding stomach.

And just when I thought that the pain I felt in the Corridor was bad enough.

Today was not my day.

I turned around and stared at the Shadow who was staring back, and caught sight of blood dripping from both its hands.

Just seeing my blood was enough to make a switch flip inside me. I took hold of my sword, and I prepared to do battle once more.

As I raised my blade against the Shadow, I brought it down in a vertical slash, only to watch in surprise as the blade itself suddenly shot forwards, and pierced right through the Shadow.

I was astonished by this sudden action, and my eyes traced the black-tinted chain that connected the crossguard to the hilt – it was a concealed hidden mechanism of sorts.

"Okay... Vexen really did a lot of work..." I mumbled softly to myself before quickly refocusing on the task at hand.

I casted a glance at my blade, which was stuck right in the chest of the Shadow, and with one effortful heave, I tossed the Heartless right into the same wall it crashed me into.

Upon impact, the Shadow exploded into a plume of dark smoke.

A small smile crept onto my face, as I immediately took in the gravity of my situation. I then looked down to my blade, which was automatically being retracted back to the hilt.

"If I can keep this momentum up, I can at least finish this mission," I spoke out loud.

And then the pain factor came in again.

I hissed softly as I gazed down at my stomach, and the blood that continued to pour out. "But first thing's first," I added in, and then I reached into my coat pocket.

Quickly fishing out the Elixir bottle Axel gave me a few days earlier, I took another quick sip of the refreshing liquid.

Axel had always reminded me from time to time that Elixirs were quite hard to come by, especially since they did not come cheap by the Moogles.

Hence, conserving the bottle I had was what counted for survival. Only use it when in an emergency. And it couldn't have been more true. Already the bottle was less than half-full once I finished drinking my fill. I had to be extra careful going about this mission.

I started making my way down the left corridor, opposite the one Axel blazed his way through, and not even five paces after turning the corner the next group of Heartless appeared before me. Without any hesitation, I charged in with my sword held aloft.

Compared to the batch earlier, I had little to no trouble in doing them away, much to my surprised joy.

Probably it was because that I quickly made use of the new chain aspect of my weapon and that I had quickly anticipated the movements of the Shadows, having learnt my lesson from earlier.

I continued through the tunnelway, making note of the vast pathways that seemed to be branching off into different directions. "It's like a maze in here," I commented to myself.

The only thing that was preventing me from going off in those directions, were the peculiar-looking barriers made up of black and white branches of thorns.

I was disappointed by this fact, but on the other hand it meant that this mission was only cordoned off to only this area, which I was grateful for. I probably wasn't ready for such a challenge in a public area.

As I arrived at the exit No. 2, more Heartless appeared, but as I got a closer look I realised that these creatures were completely different.

Unlike the Shadows, these ones were much more refined in appearance – looking like noble knight-type warriors. Their muscular forms were clad in bluish-black body suits bearing the Heartless emblem and purple inverted emblems trimmed in gold on the knees.

They wore black, silver trimmed shoes that end in spiral toes, silver wristbands, and a silver knight's helm decorated with two angular, eye-like spirals on the front and a yellow stripe at the base of the curled silver plume. They were weaponized with fierce blue and red-tipped claws, and their shadowed faces were distinguishable only by their bright yellow eyes and toothy maw.

At first, I was a little intrigued by their design, but then I quickly shook it off. I had to remember that these were Heartless, not kids playing dress-up.

With my sword in hand, I faced off all four of them in combat. As the minutes wore on however, I started to realise that these Heartless were much more formidable than the Shadows.

Not only did their claws pack more than a punch, but they were also actually using their legs, kicking me whenever I left an opening. If that was not complicating enough, thanks to their protective armour it took me more than five slashes just to take one down.

And three slashes per attack was the limit of my strength. Instinct told me to whip out my chain once more, but even if I wanted to, these soldier Heartless were not giving me a brief respite to do so.

When I went on the offensive, the Heartless were right on top of me. When I was on the defensive, they were still clawing and kicking away in a shark-like frenzy.

That was when my stance was broken by a strong kick to my chest, and I founded myself falling onto the ground.

Not even a split-second after my butt made contact with the hard surface floor and the Heartless were pouncing right onto my defenseless form, and I had no chance to raise my arms instinctively.

But just as I was about to be mauled again, a flurry of heat filled my vision and a wave of hotness invaded my senses, and within a second the Heartless were destroyed.

Breathless, I moved my arms a little to relax out the tension, and then my fingers brushed against two, familiar looking Chakrams.

I glanced at both which were embedded into the ground at either side of me, and it took a couple of seconds just to register what had taken place.

"Whew... man oh man, something tells me this competition wasn't a good idea after all!" Axel's snarky remark was heard as I turned and saw my mentor coming towards me.

"Axel..." I muttered softly, and my lips slowly formed a smile. I was relieved that my mentor had come to my rescued when he did.

Judging by his sudden appearance, I could guess that either he simply did away with his batch of Heartless with just a snap of his fingers, or this tunnelway much smaller than I took it to be.

I watched silently as he came up before me, then extended out his hand. With gratefulness, I reached out with my own, with the intension to allow my mentor to help pull me up.

Only to find that his hand went past mine, and gripped onto one of his Chakrams.

Immediately, I froze in position, and my smile quickly turned into a glower.

Axel smirked at my reaction, "What? Expectin' me to help you like a little girl? And what happened to all that "I can do it myself" attitude from earlier?"

I knew he had a point, but I could not help but still give him an annoyed eyeroll.

As the jerk retrieved his other Chakram, I slowly got to my feet.

"Y'know? In all my years working for the Organization, I had never seen a member get so royally kicked by a bunch of weak Heartless," he remarked, which caught my surprised attention.

Weak? So did that mean that the soldier Heartless were amongst the _weakest_?

Slowly, I started to become a little ashamed and frustrated at the same time.

For one, it would have explained how Axel was able to take out an entire legion of them without ever breaking a sweat.

And yet it also meant that I not as prepared as I presumed.

Before I could let loose my frustration on my own mentality, Axel then questioned, "But seriously though, the heck happened? I've never seen Soldiers get this aggressive before."

I settled with this blunt response, "Report this to the Superior then."

And with that, I started storming off, leaving behind Axel who was surprised by the harsh tone that came out of me.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

The days were going by silently, as she patiently awaited the return of her minions to her secret abode.

Aside from the usual briefings and monologues about the end goal, those matters were considered trifle compared to what was currently on her mind.

A few days ago one of her allies voiced out rumours about one of the Seven Princesses, and she thought nothing more than discernment of location.

But then when a new development took place, she invested her full attention to the issue.

She had sent her Heartless far and wide, to worlds conquered and unconquered, to find this certain Princess.

She supposed it was ironic that this curious matter also brought her alliance to the attention of the Chosen One and his two seemingly incompetent sidekicks.

To her, the influx of Heartless among the worlds were solely for this Princess (and the other six if they came across them) but apparently it somehow caused this Chosen One, this boy, to step out of the shadows.

At first, she found it hysterical that the hero was merely a child.

But then she witnessed him and his lackeys destroy the Guard Armor, and she re-evaluated this new development.

She could care less if he somehow prevailed through the whole ordeal, or lose his pathetic, weakling form to the open arms of the Heartless.

In her own words, "Either way he could be quite useful."

With her forces sent out for the trio to play with, she could now refocus on the more important issue at hand.

It was factual that her patience could remain persistent for years and years, but everything and everyone had a limit.

After all, she experienced it first-hand with one of the Seven Princess's whose homeworld she shared with, and it was not a pleasant one.

But thankfully, she did not have to cast out thunder and lightning in a fit of rage this time around, for her plans were all going smoothly.

One-by-one, the Princesses were all being captured, and they were all stored here in the alliance's main headquarters.

The latest one, Belle, gave her no cause for curiosity. In fact, she was much more unamused. It seemed that anyone could be given a royal title these days.

At least on her world things were much more elegant, regal, and far more sophisticated.

"Maleficent, the boy's here," her main side-lackey called for her attention from behind.

Her eyes broke contact with the large Heartless-emblem door, and she turned around to face the smug-grinning big cat, and the silver-haired boy standing beside him.

The evil fairy acknowledged the boy with a nod and then commanded the other, "You may leave, Pete. I shall take it from here."

With a small nod of his own, Pete turned and strode off as the boy took a few steps toward Maleficent.

"I'm here like you asked me to," he stated bluntly, "So what's the sitch?"

"It is time for your first test," Maleficent briefed callously, "The next Princess has been found." With a wave of her free hand, the green ball atop her long sceptre began to glow. She pointed her sceptre right at the ground between herself and the boy.

A second later and a bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens at the exact spot, which prompted the boy to jump back out of instinct. From the area now scorched in soot, a dark cloud was conjured, and it swirled in a circular motion until it created a vortex.

Peering over, the boy saw as an image of his target appeared.

Much to his surprise, she appeared to be no more than ten years of age. Much younger than he was.

She had long, thick, blonde hair in which a black bow was tied. She wore a blue dress with a white pinafore, along with white tights and black shoes.

"And that's where I come in?" the boy inquired with folded arms, "A break, enter and steal job?"

Maleficent hummed in clarification, "She should not be hard for you to ascertain. Apparently, the world she is in has a certain… allure to which she is unaccustomed to."

The boy continued to stare at the portrait before him, and he pondered over his decision.

In his heart, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. To infiltrate and kidnap an innocent for a grander, darker scheme.

It was just not like him to resort to something as cowardly as this. His parents would be disappointed by him if they were here.

But if Maleficent had promised of his chance to reunite with the ones dearest to him, or rather than ones that he had left, what other choice did he have?

After all, he was mortified when he founded himself on this world, all by himself, and no else by his side.

Even now he still worried for his two best friends. Where were they now? Were they alright? Had they been devoured by the darkness?

Many thoughts and possibilities ran through his head, most of them with negative outcomes and effect.

He quickly shook them out of mind. "No, they'll be alright. If not, why would this creepy old hag even promise something that would seem like a pipe dream?" he thought to himself. His resolve maintained and steeled, he looked back up to the fairy, his answer loud and clear.

"Point me to her, and I'll bring her back alive," he spoke out firmly with a curt nod. Maleficent let out one of the most callous of grins, "Very good."

With a wave of her hand, a Corridor of Darkness appeared to the boy's left. As he began walking over to it, Maleficent called after him.

"But a word of warning: I have on good authority that the Chosen One and his friends will be there as well," she warned him, "In fact, they are upon the world's soil at this very minute." The boy paused in his stride and let out a "hmph!".

"If I see them, I'll be sure to send them your greetings," he stated unequivocally before he disappeared into the Corridor.

As the vortex dissipated, Maleficent let out a small chuckle. "Of course you will…" she muttered to herself.

Oh how that foolish boy was playing right into her cards just fine! Soon, he will be roped to her side completely, without any hesitation or fear.

She knew who his friend was once the boy described him, and once he comes gallivanting back to her for answers, she will start sowing the seeds and doubt into his feeble little head. All at the same time as she continued to feed the strong darkness that already dwelled within his heart.

With time and patience, Maleficent would nurture that darkness until it started to influence his mind, thoughts and feelings, until he started to crave for more and more, until he became her greatest weapon against the Chosen One.

Oh, she could already imagine the day when the boy strikes down his friend without any mercy or feelings of guilt and consequence.

He would only know rage and fury.

Gradually, she allowed the smile to fall from her lips, and then she spoke out, "You can come out now."

With the lumbering of his shoes, Pete emerged from his hiding spot just down a couple of steps on the stairs.

As he approached his mistress, he commented, "Looks like the kid's all pumped up and ready to take on them worlds, eh Maleficent?"

"Indeed, but it would take time for him to be converted into the tool that we need," Maleficent replied back, "After all, the darkness in the hearts of men always brings out the best, or should I say, worst in them. Their greed for power, their lust for riches, and their satisfactions of the fancy. These are all easily manipulated, given the right motivation."

"But enough about the boy for now. How goes the search for this lost Princess of Heart?" she now questioned.

"Well, see um…" Pete fumbled with his words, "One of them Soldier Heartless reported back just minutes ago, see? From one of them worlds that our influence ain't that superficial. And from that one's been tellin' me, it's quite um… startlin'…"

"Oh?" Maleficent titled her head with curiosity, "What is it that could be startling?"

"Apparently… he came across some girl in a black coat and from what had sensed in her, she had no heart to speak off," Pete said.

Maleficent stroked her chin with a grin, "Ah… a Nobody… So it is true that they do exist…"

"B-But that's not all!" Pete added on, "Even though this girl no longer had a heart, it still felt that she had um… its light essence radiatin' outta her body. If ya know what I mean?"

Maleficent squinted her eyes just a bit, her intrigue peeking.

"In what way?" she asked. Pete scratched the back of his neck, "Well, it's kinda like feeling like that the heart's still there, even though it ain't there anymore."

Maleficent hummed in response, and she dwelled in thought for a few silent moments.

She then looked up, with a glint in her eyes more evident than ever before. "So my suspicions were true," she stated. "About what?" Pete asked.

"It is clear that this Princess of ours has already lost her heart to the darkness," Maleficent clarified, "And in a surprising twist, her body has become a Nobody."

"But it shouldn't be possible, considering she's a Princess of Heart, right?" Pete inquired confusingly, "I mean, them Princesses' bodies are so full of light! Surely they're incapable of having their bodies still… alive-like and all?"

Maleficent closed her eyes, "Perhaps… but then again…" With a wave of her hand, a green flame appeared in her palm, and when it dissipated a lone white orb was hovering in its place.

"… legends and tales always have a keenness for unpredictability," she finished.

Pete stared at the orb she was presenting. Slowly, he put two-and-two together, and was gasping with astonishment.

"S-So that means…" he asked and pointed at the glowing orb.

Maleficent nodded her slowly; she did not have to explain what it really was. He already knew it for himself.

She knew there was a reason why she had not disposed of this seemingly incompetent oaf a long time ago. While he had failed her on many occasions physically, he still had his surprisingly competent-enough brain that he rarely uses. And to that she still found impressive for some reason.

"We will keep this between ourselves until the time is nigh," she told Pete sternly, "Until then, let none of our allies know of this knowledge."

"Not even the kid?" Pete asked.

Maleficent grinned, "That boy is too smart for his own good. Knowing less of his other friend's dilemma, will be fruitful for his development."

Slowly, Maleficent allowed the orb to fly out of her hands. Before it could get far, she casted a spell.

"By the powers of the heavens! All the elements of the earth! I summon thee!" she chanted out loud.

Pete took a few steps backwards as he witnessed all of the natural elements conjured by Maleficent come together in a chaotic spiral around the orb.

She then shot a bolt of dark energy from her sceptre towards the spiral, and it gradually began to take shape.

Slowly, limbs began to form, and then the head. Before long, clothing began to appear as well.

When the dust settled, a Pureblood Heartless was all that remained of the light show.

But unlike most others, this one was different.

In stark contrast to the usual black tint that covered most of the body, the Heartless' form was sheltered by a hooded black coat (similar to the ones the Organization wore).

Its circular, red eyes were visible from underneath the coat's hood, and the coat was decorated with flames shaded in dark red and dark purple colours at its sleeves and coattails.

And yet by physical appearance, it was much shorter compared to its other Pureblood counterparts, and Pete was unsure whether it was intended considering that this one was far more humanoid than the others.

Maleficent smiled cruelly as she marvelled at her work.

And then she instructed it, "Hear me, my Pureblood Heartless! Keep that Princess' heart safe until I have of need of it!"

Almost immediately, the Heartless gave its mistress a small bow, in an almost robotic motion. Satisfied, Maleficent turned back to Pete.

"Take it to a part of this castle where we rarely frequent," she commanded him, "And do it discreetly."

With a cackling laugh, Pete saluted back, "Right 'way, your most evilness!"

He walked over to the Heartless who remained in place, and with a snap of his fingers both he and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.


	5. Somebody Encounter

**Apologies for the delay, I was having a hard time trying to figure out the pacing for this story, especially since I completed the last chapters for I Hope They Remember You. But anyways, this is the best that my brain could come up for now. Hopefully in future chapters I can come up with a much more fluent storyline.**

 **Also to note, this is the first time I am addressing you guys in this story.**

 **Enjoy the chapter everyone!**

* * *

 **The Grey Area, Day 13 (Naminé's POV)**

The next day came by quickly and the experience felt something along the lines of finding myself sleeping one minute, and then heading over to the lounge room the next.

At least this time around I felt less tired than yesterday. Especially since the remarks Axel said about those Soldiers.

I was still angry at the fact that I was weaker than the Heartless that described as some of the easiest to fight against. And to have it on display right in front of my own mentor when he rescued me?

It was unacceptable, especially since I wanted to prove that I could take care of myself.

Speaking whom, I was curious as to why I had not seen my mentor this morning. He was around yesterday when Saïx appointed me my first mission.

After all, he was my mentor who still had a lot of things to teach me. But that was when realization hit me.

I remembered that when we left, I gave Axel a harsh suggestion when he was wondering about the Soldiers.

Immediately I became even more ashamed and angry of myself.

Axel must have taken it the wrong way and now he believed that I was angry that he may have unknowingly called me weak.

Right now I could only assume my mentor must be feeling the same way as I was, and that he was doing his best to keep as much distance from me as possible, so as to respect my boundaries.

I was touched by how much respect that he had for me, even though I was still a newcomer in-training. I decided to make it a top priority to find and apologise to him.

But just as I made that decision, I realised that I had just arrived in the Grey Area.

As I scanned the area, I noticed that only Luxord and Lexaeus were present considering they were busy duelling one another at a card game. Them and Saïx who was standing close to the large windows, staring across the room to me.

Inwardly, I knew that it meant that my chance had already slipped by even as I began to consider it.

Saïx rarely frequented the lounge room, but when he was it was only for one goal: to brief members on their respective missions – myself being no different.

With a deep breath to calm my nerves, I started to proceed forth towards the Luna Diviner. As the distance between ourselves closed, Saïx remained silent and the only communication that we had was a tense eye contact. And those orange eyes were once more boring down into my heartless shell.

As soon I was at least four paces away from him, I performed a small bow of respect before him.

Although it was painful to cope with the members not reciprocating that same level of respect towards me, I still remained steadfast by my own beliefs.

I did not have to like all of them, but respect must still be given.

"Naminé, for today's mission you will be sent to a different location in the world you and Axel visited yesterday," Saïx told me monotonously, "As usual, I expect you to perform beyond expectations. Is that understood?"

"Understood, Saïx," I responded back, still maintain that bow before him.

As ever, I could practically imagine those cold eyes shooting daggers at me, but I did my best to maintain my composure in his presence.

"I suggest you make your way over there at once," he added in and summoned a Corridor beside him, "Your mentor is already there waiting for you."

With another nod, I slowly headed forth towards the Corridor. Beforehand I had made sure to have my gloves on, a thought which I was gladful to have lingered.

Once more as I entered the black void, I was greeted with nothing but emptiness.

There was no light in here to shine my way through, so essentially it felt like I was trudging on like a blind person. But I did not allow the fear and concern of my direction to haunt my thoughts. Instead, I focused more on reaching my intended destination.

At the same time, I also pondered about how I was going to move forward with my relationship with my mentor. For all that I knew, Axel was probably trying to come up with some sort of apology of his own for his remark about the weak Heartless that I was up against.

And then, before I knew it, I emerged out the other side to be greeted by the sight of dancing flames and annihilated Heartless.

At first, I was quite surprised by what was happening, but then I took notice of my red-head mentor who was yelling his head off as he took down vast numbers of Soldiers and Shadows in a single swoop.

I continued to look on in absolute silence, until the battle was finally over.

As the flames finally dissipated from his Chakrams, I slowly started to pick up on the heavy breaths and pants that Axel was taking. It must have meant that he had fought a long and hard battle for the entire morning.

Slowly and gradually, he willed away his weapons and turned around to face me. I saw the tired look on his face, but it clearly did not stop him from giving him his usual cocky grin.

"Well… you certainly took your time," he remarked, and had a hand to his waist.

"I just received my mission from Saïx," I informed him, "And when I got here, it seemed that you were already starting it ahead of schedule."

Axel almost adopted a bashful look and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, 'ahead' would be putting it mildly…" he murmured nervously.

I titled my head in confusion, "Hmm?"

"See the thing is, um…" Axel nervously spoke out, "I already… … finished the mission."

For a moment, I was staring at him blankly, blinking my blue eyes at every few second intervals.

Did… did I just hear that correctly?

"… Huh?" I finally muttered out my thoughts.

With a deep sigh, Axel reaffirmed his statement, "You heard me. The mission's finished. Done. Completed. Accomplished. Basically, it's now all free time for you. You're welcome by the way."

"You finished it… already…?" I parroted him softly, "B-But I thought it was supposed to be…"

"Your training? Of course, it's supposed to be yours," Axel stated plainly, "But I just thought that you could use some break for a while. Besides, I think Saïx's been pushing you too hard. Too hard for my taste that is."

I lowered my head and my eyes were transfixed on the ground.

"It could be that…" I muttered out, "Or is there more to it than just 'helping' me?"

Axel's eyes widened in surprised silence, and I knew that I had the cat out of the bag. He shook his head with a humorless chuckle, "Gee, nothing gets past you, doesn't it?"

He folded his arms and closed his eyes, "See, the thing is… I've been giving a lot of thought about what happened yesterday, especially with the whole Soldier fiasco. After a while, I realized that I may have overstepped my boundaries a teensy bit."

"Meaning?" I clarified.

Axel opened his eyes and stared deep into mine, "Long story short, I'm sorry for the challenge and what I said yesterday. It was supposed to be all fun and games, but I hadn't realised that you took it quite seriously in a literal sense. As your mentor, I was way out of line."

If I were to be honest, I was not that surprised that he would do something like this, and yet even so I felt a little heartfelt by what he was saying.

It was one of the very few times that he had acted more genuinely that arrogantly, and somehow, I was touched by just how much he actually cared about me.

So in-turn, I decided to reciprocate my care for him.

"No Axel, I should be the one to apologise," I told him gently, "My remark when I left you yesterday was absolutely uncalled for. It was not right for me as your student to voice out my thoughts in a most immature way."

There was something in Axel's green eyes that I could not easily make out without closer inspection. Was it admiration? Was it sadness? I could not really tell. But whatever it was, it surely prompted his response.

"Looks like we're gonna be more than just mentor and student."

And I had to raise my eyebrows at that comment.

Seeing this, Axel let out a laugh, "Don't twist this the wrong way. Not a sort of shipping relationship. More on the lines of being best friends."

"Best... friends?" I parroted him in confusion, "We're best friends?"

Axel grinned even wider, "Of course, Naminé! You had something to apologise for, and I had something to apologise for. That was best friends do. We look after one another and help each other grow. Genuinely of course."

He walked over to me and patted me on the shoulder.

"With that being said, how's about I give you the grand tour of the world?" he offered, "Free of charge!"

I returned a light-heartened smile to him, "That would be nice of you, Axel. But considering that the mission's finished, shouldn't we be reporting back to the Castle?"

Axel scoffed at that concern, "What? This early and have Mr Blue-Haired Zombie suspect something? I don't think so! We've got plenty of time to kill, so we'll use that as the entire duration of the mission. Got it memorized?"

I stared at him in silence for a few seconds, and then I responded with a small nod and a hum.

"Alrighty then! Let the grand tour begin!" Axel exclaimed he started to walk off a proud as someone who won a million-dollar prize, with me following close behind him.

Early on, he explained to me the layout of the entire world. It was called Twilight Town, basically for its orange sky, and its sun in the horizon that never seemed to rise or set.

While I could not deny that it was beautiful, it got me thinking. Was the concept of day and night non-existent in this world? How do their inhabitants comprehend time then? After all, the Tower I observed had a clock. While it was confusing, at the same time it also seemed quite curious and interesting. I had to know how these people live their lives.

The first Axel took me to was the town's marketplace.

Here, while there were people noticeably walking by, there weren't many shops that I could spot. Another interesting observation considering that a usual marketplace normally had thousands of people dropping by to purchase their goods.

Noticing my intrigue, Axel explained to me, "Yeah, see… The thing is, there's not much folks that normally comes by this district. For all that I can tell, most adults prefer to come here at their own free time."

I looked to him, my expression turning ever more curious, "Really?"

"Mmm hmm," Axel hummed back with a nod, "Considering the number of shops 'round here, I wouldn't be surprised if these folks agreed to not congregate this place during a specific time of day, say early morning or evening."

And with that, he started walking along again, and I quickly followed behind while casting one more glance at the marketplace.

Further along, we arrived at an open area with what appeared to be a large stage encompassing the entire central part.

"Now this right here? This is the Sandlot," Axel said to me, "My favourite part of town." "Your favourite?" I asked him quizzically.

I took a look around the area, but no seemed to be around here. "It looks to be vacant," I observed.

"For the moment at least," Axel piped in and turned to me with a grin, "From time-to-time, this place bears witness to a special event that the citizens are especially fond of."

And then for dramatic effect, he thrust his hands up and outwards and cried out in a childish tone, "STRUGGLE!"

I, on the other hand, was not following him on his enthusiasm, considering that the S word dealt with many violent terms.

"… how exciting…" I muttered out, my voice suddenly void of emotion.

Axel picked up on it and practically dropped his arms to the ground with a loud exasperated groan. "It's not what you think!" he told me with a look a son would use to plead with his mother for something, "Struggle is a type of sport that these people have cooked up!"

I titled my head, "Sport? Like boxing or wrestling?"

Axel looked almost beside himself, "Geez Louise, aren't you so critical…" He sighed deeply, "Yes, I admit Struggle is a combat sport of sorts, but its not that extremely violent. It has it competitors using the Struggle Bat. And you say that that's cruel and barbaric, it's not! I mean, sure it'll give you sore muscles for a couple days, by nothing too serious!"

I still was not buying into the whole Struggle thing but seeing that my mentor was fixating on having a mental breakdown just to defend his favourite sport, I decided not to breathe into the subject matter further and instead play along.

I turned to the stage, "So how do the rules work."

"Like most sports, while Struggle can be viewed as a daily competition it also has a full-on tournament," Axel explained, his giddy enthusiasm quickly returning, "If you win that tournament, you will win a beautifully sculptured trophy! The rules are simple: each fighter begins with 100 colored orbs and each time he or her is hit, the orbs will be dropped."

He folded his arms, "Every player has a different color for their orbs, so as to not make things too confusing. The fighters can either pick up their opponent's orbs or pick up their own before theirs are snatched away. There's a time limit too. The goal is to have the most orbs when it runs dry."

I hummed softly, "Sounds simple enough."

"Of course it is!" Axel replied with a chuckle, "What good is a game if the rules are so convoluted?"

From there, Axel took away again, this time to what he called it the Tram Common. Here, I found more shops compared to what I've seen at the marketplace earlier.

"Well, there appears to be more shops here," I commented and gave Axel a sceptical look, "Than _the marketplace_."

Axel laughed it off, "Don't be silly, my young protégé! If a marketplace has less shops than other places, then it wouldn't be called a…"

He trailed off and his eyes widened, as though he suddenly realised something.

With a mischievous smile of my own, I folded my arms and awaited with anticipation his final verdict. I knew that I had caught on to his mistake.

"Well…?" I asked him politely and eagerly.

Axel's eyes darted around the Tram Common, to the numerous other shops and the gathering crowds as he frantically tried to come up with an explanation.

Ultimately, he knew that he had slipped up and sighed in defeat.

"Alright… I give…" he muttered with a sigh, "This is the actual marketplace…" "Uh huh…?" I prodded him with feigned doubt, "So I suppose the other one wasn't?" "Yeah…" my mentor grumbled back.

But then his eyes lit up and he was back to his usual self.

"But then again, this entire area IS Market Street after all, but I digress!"

Just then, we both heard grunts and shouts of pain coming from nearby, and when both turned in that direction.

Almost immediately the first thing that came to my mind was the Heartless. I would not be surprised if Axel hadn't really gotten rid of them all before I arrived. But nevertheless, I decided to check it out.

Quickly launching myself into a brisked run, I headed off towards the noise with Axel following close behind.

We arrived in a small alleyway and peeking from behind a corner, we could make out a teen being beaten up by an older boy dressed in a sleeveless white coat. His brawny friend on the other hand was restraining the teen in place by his arms.

We remained silent as a conversation was apparently ongoing.

"Cut the bullcrap, Hayner!" the older boy snapped at him, "We know that that was you we saw at our hangout! Now for the last time! Tell me what business you had infiltrating my little clubhouse!"

With a wheeze of pain, the teen Hayner replied back, "I told y-you… I just stumbled upon there b-by accident… I-I promise you… I didn't see anything…"

"If Seifer says it's bullcrap, it's bullcrap, ya know!" the brawny man snapped from behind him, "No one fools 'im and gets away with it, ya know!"

The bully, Seifer, waved a hand at his friend to calm down, and the glowered down at Hayner.

"Looks like we're in a sticky situation here, kid," he snarled at him darkly.

With one strong hand, he gripped at Hayner's chin tightly and began to squeeze until the latter let out a whimper.

"Either you tell us now and I'll let bygones be bygones…" he warned him, "… or I'll have to resort to some… unpleasant measures… Maybe I'll start with your friend Olette, and then maybe I'll have some desert with your mother."

At the mentioning of both persons, Hayner suddenly became much more enraged and fierce.

"If you go near any of them…" he growled darkly, only to be met by another punch to the gut.

"You'll do what?" Seifer challenged him with a taunting grin, "Lucky for you, I already know the answer to that: NOTHING. I'm on top of the food chain, punk; you are and always will be a measly, insignificant little mouse that I have to squash!"

Once more, that jerk began to deliver blows to Hayner, and as the seconds wore on it became much more intolerable and unbearable for me.

I started to move from my hiding spot, but then I felt a strong pair of hands pull me away from the alley.

"I think that's enough of sightseeing for the day," Axel muttered softly as he began to drag me away.

"W-What are you doing?!" I cried out in anguish and started to tug at my tugged hand, "Let me go Axel!"

"And what do you suppose you'll do if I let go?" Axel snapped back with narrowed eyes, "Run back there and help that pathetic, innocent Somebody?"

I became aghast at his retort, "Isn't that the right thing to do?!"

"I admit, I also felt that urge to just get off my laurels and beat up those punks into a pulp," Axel said seriously, "But then I'd be breaking the most important rule."

I ceased my struggle for a moment and stared at him with exasperation.

There's a _rule_ for this too?!

"Rule No. VIII, never _interfere_ in the affairs of Somebodies," Axel recited, "The one rule that every member of the Organization must strictly follow. Else Lord Xemnas will be **more** than unhappy."

"And why is that?!" I demanded him.

Axel frowned at me, "That's because we Nobodies are supposed to be enemies with those who have hearts."

He let out a deep sigh, "It's complicated, but let's just say that the Organization's has a long track record of petty grudges against the Somebodies. We envy them for their continuous uses of emotions – something we Nobodies will never get to experience again. Overtime however, that envy turned into jealousy and hatred, which ensued into a cold war of sorts."

"That's it?" I questioned him, "That rule's in place… all because of some minor grumbles?!"

"Look… I'll let that remark slip me by this time since you're new to all of this…" Axel stated with a wave of his hand.

But then all of a sudden, he got right in my face, and his expression had darkened.

I suddenly became fearful of him.

"… but you haven't the faintest idea of how the "minor grumbling" feels like…" he finished coldly.

And then to my surprise, he released his grip on my hand.

"Go. Help the kid if you want to," he told me with a voice of hollowness, "He may thank you now, but soon you'll see that he like all other Somebodies will turn their backs on you…"

Without another word, Axel stormed off into the crowd of Tram Common, leaving me behind to think about his harsh words for a moment. But then I heard Hayner's cries again, and I quickly snapped into action.

Racing back into the alley, I could see the signs of what had happened while I was arguing with Axel.

Hayner was bleeding profusely in many different places of his face. His nose. His cheek. His lips. He was battered and bruised mess, and he wasn't going to hold out much longer.

"It's no use, man!" Seifer's friend told him with a shake of his head, "He ain't gonna fess up!"

Seifer agreed with a frustrated rake of his hair, "Agreed, Raijin. Looks like we'll have to find our answer somewhere else. Maybe Olette will be a good place to start."

It was unfortunate for them both that I decided to step in.

"You two are not going anywhere!" I spoke up fiercely as I stepped out in front of them both.

Both men cocked their eyebrows at me for a moment, but then they both let out a laugh.

"Oh man… ha ha ha! This is rich!" Seifer commented, "Looks like somebody's trying to play hero!" Raijin nodded his head, "Yeah! And look at her! So tiny! Ha ha ha!"

From his position on the ground, Hayner was looking at me with wide eyes, and inside them he was pleading for me to get out of here.

But I'll stand my ground for him, even though he was a complete stranger.

No one should ever have to suffer under jerks like Seifer.

As soon as he finished laughing, Seifer pointed a finger at me, "Listen, girl. I don't know if you're either stupid or brave to even do this, but since you ARE a girl I'm gonna give you one chance to just walk away now."

"Since I'M a girl?" I snapped back, unnerved by him calling me stupid, "I apologise but maybe I didn't hear it right when you threatened him about attacking his friend and mother?!"

"And I'm certain there's this phrase that says, "mind your own damned business"!" Seifer growled dangerously, "Now get lost, before I do to you ten times what I did to this loser!"

He delivered a sharp kick to Hayner's gut, which caused the latter to vomit out a bit of blood.

Seeing his wince some more triggered something in me. I summoned my blade Hallowed Light and pointed it directly at Seifer.

Raijin upon seeing the blade, suddenly became fearful. Seifer on the other hand looked less than impressed.

"Really? You wanna duke it out with the top dog of this town?" he taunted me with an ecstatic grin.

I simply responded with narrowed eyes of determination.

Seifer chuckled, "I'll take that as a "yes"!"

In a swift move, he whipped out his own weapon. It was sword of sorts, with its blade being designed to resemble a gun.

"Let's make this a quick one," he spat out and pointed his blade at me, "I'd hate to miss my appointment with the ladies."

Realising a fight was coming, Raijin made the wise choice to make himself scarce.

Positioning myself in my attack stance, I waited patiently for Seifer to make the first move.

Unsurprisingly, Seifer himself was also unfazed, his eyes were daring me to make the first move.

For a brief moment, both of us locked our eyes in a fierce staredown, and the tension was getting more tense. But I stood ready, eager to apply what I have learnt in my training thus far.

Ultimately, with his patience dwindled, Seifer launched his first attack at me. I reacted swiftly and easily deflected a strong vertical slash. I went for his torso, but he quickly parried my attack.

As we continued to duel in a fierce dance, I noticed that Seifer was favouring a fencing technique.

He seemed to be favouring a powerful lunge whenever he thrusts forwards. Seifer seemed to have such a flare to his step, a fervour when he defended and attacked.

It told me much of his character. Bold. Dauntless. Brash. Audacious. And how could I not ignore that arrogant grin of his which was always maintained?

In comparison, I myself was adopting kenjutsu. My attacks were sloppier and less clean than Seifer's, but there's no backing out of this now.

We fought on for what felt like an eternity, until finally one of us began to tire.

Genuinely, I was surprised to find out that I was not the one.

Thanks to his over extensive use of his right hand, Seifer was slowly starting to feel the stinging pain creep across the length of his arm. His eyes were squinting, and his teeth were becoming gritted.

He realised that he was forced to switch over to his left hand (aka the weaker side) if he was to continue.

Just as he started to make the change, I took swift advantage of his handicap.

Nimbly, I disarmed Seifer at his most vulnerable positioning with a strong upward cut of my blade. His sword went flying from his left hand up and hurtled away into the sky, far beyond his reach.

With the jerk defenceless, I started to go all out with my attacks. Using precise slash and swings, I began driving Seifer deeper into the alley.

The prideful jerk had lost his smile and was now fearful for his life. Now he could see that I was no ordinary girl that he could push around.

I smiled inwardly as I continued to push him back, and casted frequent glances at Hayner who was positioned to get the jump on Seifer.

When the bully was close enough, Hayner delivered a jab punch at his right thigh. Crying out in surprised pain, Seifer lost his balance and began falling.

But at the same time, my blade was also being swung at his face. It was also happening so fast, that Seifer barely even registered what even happening to him on both fronts.

After he collapsed to the ground, he suddenly felt a wet, sticky and warm substance on the bridge of his nose.

And then he gazed up to me, and the horrified look that was plastered on my features.

And then pain registered with him.

"Argh!" he cried out in agony as he covered the injury with a hand. The injury I inflicted looked serious, considering the blood that was seeping through his fingers.

With sharp breaths, he growled in my direction. "You better watch yourself..." he warned me darkly, "You're officially number one on my hit list!"

He quickly turned heel and dashed out of the alley, leaving me behind to comprehend what had just happened.

Did... did I just...?

Words were failing me at my lips, but I could see it for myself. My own handy work.

Beside me, Hayner quickly got to his feet and began dusting himself off. "You saved me," he commented and nodded his head at me.

Quickly reminded of what I was doing here, I turned to him and nodded back. "I had to," I told him, "There was no else around that was noticing."

Hayner shrugged, "Eh, it tends to happen 'round here. Folks don't care much about what Seifer does around town, regardless of how extreme his antics always get."

"Really?" I questioned with astonishment, "Then it's wrong to just let bullies do whatever they want!"

"I know, right?" Hayner replied with an exasperated tone, "It's one thing that I hate about this town. Everyone here is normally peaceful with one another, and never strict with rules." He sighed with a shake of his head and then a second later, he smiled at me.

"But anyways, thanks for the help back there," he said genuinely and extended out a hand, "Name's Hayner."

In a graceful gesture, I reached out and shook it. "Naminé," I greeted him earnestly with a warm smile.

Hayner chuckled, "Naminé eh? Quite an interesting name."

Our hands parted ways and we both stood there for an awkward few seconds. And then Hayner spoke up, "Nice job with Seifer's face by the way."

I stared at him with a look of confusion, he was happy for that?

"Y-You're okay with him having an injury?" I questioned.

"Yeah! Of course!" Hayner replied, "I mean sure, it looks pretty bad and gruesome and all... but what the heck! Maybe a slight ruination of his face will temper that ego of his for a while."

I was still dumbfounded by what was just said. Here I was, inflicting my first injury on a Somebody, and Hayner was _ecstatic_ that it even happened?

On one hand, a part of me felt that Seifer deserved it. How many teens and children had he been torturing in his life? Surely it must have been a large number. Without conscience or actual reasoning. It made sense that he was subjugated to the same pain he inflicted on his victims as though he himself had been harassed before.

On the other hand however... I was also feeling a little traumatised by what I just did. Seifer was bleeding. Bleeding. I had delivered my first physical injury on a Somebody. And I was horrified. Never had I thought myself to be one to shed blood upon someone else.

But I took another look at Hayner and stared solemnly at his injuries and then I realised that because of what that jerk did, it was a reluctant necessity.

Surely with that injury, Seifer would think twice about going after Hayner again?

Then again I could never predict how Somebodies would act on a daily basis.

After all, I'm a Somebody no more.

"Well anyways... I gotta head back now," Hayner said, "Got a test coming up tomorrow and my Mom's gonna be beside herself if she doesn't see me studying." He gave me a casual salute, "Later Naminé! Maybe we can hang out again sometime!"

"Yeah, sure," I replied back with smile and a waving hand as he strode off out of the alley. As soon as he was gone however, my smile faded from my lips.

"Maybe..." I added softly to myself.

No doubt that my mentor had went ahead of me and was already back at the Castle, probably convening with Lord Xemnas about my rule-breaking misadventure.

I was fearful at the thought of having to be reprimanded by the Superior on my first day in the outside world. How strict was he when it came to punishments? For all that I knew, he was probably already thinking up ways to 'discourage' me from interacting with Somebodies again.

"Maybe he would make me a martyr in front of everyone else," I thought with a wince of worry.

If that were to happen, I could imagine how disappointed some of the members would be, and how ecstatic the others would be.

So far, I was merely a common foot soldier in a militia of highly skilled professionals.

A nobody who was an actual Nobody, or the other way around if you wish.

With a sigh of resignation, I started to make my way out of the alley, with finding a Corridor back the Castle my current priority.

But just as I re-entered the Tram Common, I heard his familiar voice saying, "Well, I guess you're tougher than you look."

Jumping in surprise, I spun around to greet my mentor who was lying against the wall close to the alleyway.

"Guess some of the training is starting to pay off," Axel commented, "And in just a few days no less." "A-Axel?" I muttered in surprised confusion, "Y-You're here?"

Axel raised an eyebrow at me, "Of course I am, duh! I'm your mentor! I've always gotta keep an eye on you, Naminé."

"But... I thought you went back to the Castle?" I further questioned.

"Oh really? 'Cause I can't recall ever specifying that point," Axel responded with a light scoff, "I only said "Go. Help the kid if you want to.""

"B-But... I saw you..." I tried to wrap my mind around what he was saying, but my words quickly turning into inaudible babbling.

My mentor let out a sigh of exasperation and went over to me. With a index finger to my lips, he quietened me almost immediately.

"Tip for you, kid. Try not to ramble on and on, especially when you're trying to keep a conversation going," he advised me with his usual teasing smile, "Instead of keeping others reeled in, you'll just make your words pass through an ear, and out the next!"

Removing his finger, Axel finally explained, "I did what I did, only because I wanted to test you. I wanted to see if you were thinking with your head, or thinking with your guts. Turns out you were using both."

"By saving the kid, you knew it in your guts that leaving him to suffer was wrong, thus you chose to go back and help him. And when you were fighting that bully, you put all your effort into remembering all the steps that I was teaching you during training. And that's using your brains."

"And yet I feel so... terrible for doing it..." I muttered softly with a pang of guilt eating away at my empty shell.

Noticing this, Axel patted me on the shoulder, "Naminé. I know that you didn't intend to injure him the way you did, but here's the thing: that's part and partial of real-life combat."

Looking back up to my mentor, I asked softly, "Really?"

Axel nodded, "Mmm hmm. That's the harsh truth about fights: it's not all cherry and blossoms with your first kill. Take me for example: I had to fight off some pirates whilst trying to complete a mission. In the end, I wounded up slaughtering them into pieces."

I gasped in horror at that statement.

Axel frowned grimly, "Yeah... that was the same reaction that the locals gave me when they witnessed the battle. They were so terrified by how much blood was spilt, terrified of me... I couldn't even get those faces outta my brain when I returned to the Castle until a couple of weeks later. But since then I never took up missions centered in that world ever again."

Patting me on my shoulder again, he advised me, "All I'm saying is you'll get used to it as time goes on. The scars may never fade, but you'll eventually ignore them. Got it memorized?"

I stared off into the distance as I dwelled on his words for a moment. I nodded my head after a while.

With a smile, my mentor told me, "Great! All in all, you're starting to improve a little, which is kind of remarkable even by rookie standards. Also, sorry for that outburst back there, but sadly that rule really kind of exists. I'll let this one slip by with a closed eye, but do keep in mind of the rule whenever you're doing future missions by yourself or with other members. Now come! We'll RTC!"

As we started walking through Tram Common, I asked him out of curiosity, "RTC?"

Axel grinned, "Y'know? Return To Castle? It's a common slang that more casual-going members like myself use to describe reporting back to HQ. The formal ones like Lord Xemnas and Vexen, prefer to use it in full terms."

From Tram Common, we ventured back into the Sandlot, and then to the smaller marketplace. Finally, we arrived at where I came into Twilight Town earlier. A place that Axel called Back Alley.

With an outstretch of his palm, Axel summoned up a Corridor of Darkness.

He turned to me and said, "C'mon, we'll continue with your lessons about Organization's goal once I've finished up with the report."

And with that, he exited into the portal.

I lingered behind for a moment, and glanced back at the town.

Twilight Town was as amazing as it was unusual.

I would be very excited to come here again next time.

Turning back to the Corridor, I went into the inky blackness.

* * *

 **I'll be the first to admit it: the writing for the fight sequence was absolute garbage. Yes it may seem simplistic enough to be satisfying, but that was the problem. My original intention was to make it longer with descriptions to every detail. Even though I have researched about sword techniques online, I had no idea how to factor them into** **Naminé V Seifer. Oh well, perhaps just like** **Naminé in this story, I'll slowly improve on future sequences and get better at it.**

 **We also got to see how Seifer got his scar and that he was able to fight just like in FFVIII.**

 **I'm also itching to get the ball rolling for One-Winged Cometh. So for the time being, my current timetable will have me focus on doing alternate weeks for both stories, just so I don't get confused. So the next chapter will not be out until another two weeks later sadly, but hey, this story's slowly gaining traction and I have high hopes going forwards with regards to** **Naminé's story.**

 **See y'all next time!**


	6. Sitarist Jam

**Naminé's Room, Day 15 (Naminé's POV)**

With a slow blinking of my tired lids, I began to stir from my peaceful slumber.

By and by, I was getting used to much more dreamless nights. And that was because I had no dreams to think about in the first place.

There was only so much that a Nobody could think about at one time.

But with that said, I felt a lot more rejuvenated compared to what I had been through just two days ago.

Axel was true to his word. Following the submission of his report regarding our "mission", he spent the next six hours tutoring me on the Organization and what it aimed to achieve.

I could not say that I had been mostly awake through the lecture, especially since I started to daydream away an hour in. But it was what it was, and Axel was doing his best to make the lecture not as boring as akin to what a normal lecture would be to college students.

While most of his words had flown through one ear and out the other, I still managed to commit a few of his points to memory.

Basically, the Organization was founded by Lord Xemnas, shortly after the emergence of the Heartless. At that point, he had lost his heart to the darkness and became a Nobody.

A Nobody is simply the body just being left behind after losing its source of life, but that it still had enough will to gain a life on its own.

The strongest of shells however were powerful enough to retain their selfhood, and those ones made up the thirteen members of the Organization. Myself included.

Some members of Organization XIII possessed abilities linked to various elements of the world.

Vexen had command over ice and snow. Xaldin had command over the winds. Larxene had command over thunder and lightning. Axel had command over fire. Demyx had command over water. Lexaeus had command over earth.

Others on the other hand had powers that were much more magical based.

Lord Xemnas possessed the abilities to shoot lightning from his hands and powerful red beams of energy.

The remaining few including Zexion, Marluxia, Luxord and curiously Saïx, all draw their power from more based objects like books, flowers, cards and the moon.

And the Organization's ultimate goal?

Well, to put it this way, it was essentially to complete the heart-shaped moon which was hanging in the starless sky.

Kingdom Hearts was what the Superior called it, and the name felt fitting.

As I stared at it from my bedroom window, I was awed by the wondrous splendour that radiated from its paled beauty.

The next day that followed, Saïx had informed me that I had no mission to carry out for the day, and that he instructed me to spend it getting to know all the other members that were not on duty.

At first, I was surprised, but I chose not to dwell on it too long, especially in Saïx's presence.

It was unfortunate to note that Axel had a mission of his own to carry out, thus I was forced to wonder the Castle on my own.

From there on, I was thrust into a sea of strangers.

I ran into Xigbar again, and he still made me feel small and fragile.

Demyx, Lexaeus and Luxord were more tolerable to communicate with.

Xaldin just gave me the silent treatment.

Larxene was doing her best to impose her authority over me, for that I was certain.

Of course when Axel returned back, I was relieved and immediately ran straight to him like he was my safe haven.

We communicated for quite a while regarding his mission for the day as well as my time off from duty. After a few laughs and jokes, Axel moved on to more serious matters.

He informed me that the Superior was more than overjoyed by my progress thus far, and that he now wished for me to begin training to use magical spells.

Which finally brings me to today.

I let out a small sigh of tiredness.

While the concept of day and night was meaningless here (just like Twilight Town), the phrase "time flies when you're having fun" was not lost on me.

Today was my first day in the next step of my training, and I was certain that I was not ready for it.

It felt like it was coming too quickly.

Doing physical training days before, and now magic spells.

I mean no ill will towards Lord Xemnas, but I felt like this was a tall order for me.

Do all the members have to go through this sort of training? Maybe I would need to counsel with Axel again about this. Surely, he would know a thing or two about the training schedule. He could advise me on how I should plan out everything when the time comes.

Hopping out of my bed, I dragged myself over to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and combed my hair.

It took me quite a while to straighten out my soft yet entangled blonde strands of hair, and it was no less a teeth-gritting experience.

Thankfully, I need not worry about my attire since my black coat, pants and boots was the only clothing available in the Organization.

Yet at the same time I felt it weird to be sleeping at night wearing my own uniform.

Wouldn't it just make tossing and turning feel uncomfortable?

I opened the door and stepped out into the empty hallway. It was not silent however. I could make out a faint noise that sounded like snoring.

As I started walking along, I went past the room that the snores were coming from.

My eyes gazed up to the IX sigil over the door.

I tilted my head with a hum and thought to myself, "Yeah… sounds about right…"

After about five minutes of walking, I arrived at the Grey Area.

This time however, unlike previous times, I did not see Saïx anywhere.

Instead, I met the grinning face of my mentor who was leaning against the glass panel patiently. I smiled back at him, somewhat revealed to not have to face down another death stare, and brisked my way over to him.

"Well, well!" Axel remarked as I approached him, "Looks like someone's bright and early!"

"Good morning, Axel," I greeted him warmly, "Did you get a good sleep last night?"

"Sure I did!" Axel responded chirpily, but then he let out a loud yawn, "For three hours that is."

I titled my head at him, "Three hours?"

Axel shrugged, "Eh… Always happens to me. I suppose my mind's jumpier than the rest of me."

"Like a kid eagerly wanting to go to the playground?" I asked with a giggle.

"Exactly!" Axel replied with a grin.

He then started to scan the area, as though he was looking for somebody.

"Now where could that goof-off be?" he muttered softly to himself.

"Hmm?" I hummed questionably.

Pretending like there was a watch on his wrist, Axel lifted up an arm and gazed at his wrist.

"Late again as usual," he grumbled with sigh, but then he brightened up, "Oh well! Time to give 'im a wake-up call again! Be right back, kid!"

Axel gave me a wave as he strode off out of the lounge room.

At the same time, I watched as a blonde-haired sitarist running into the room.

Axel let out a pouty sigh once he saw him, "Aw… I was just on my way to wake you up…"

"No! Nuh-uh! No way Jose!" Demyx replied back with a frantic wave of his hands, "I've been there before. You are NOT giving my butt another sun tan!"

Axel grinned back, "C'mon! It can't have been that bad!"

Demyx let out a humourless laugh, "Easy for you to say! I had trouble trying to sit down or sleep for six days straight!"

"Y'know? Sometimes Larxene can be right about you, Demyx," Axel remarked, "You do whine and moan like a cry-baby!"

"JUST her?!" Demyx exclaimed back exasperated, "Vexen and Xigbar are also both at the top of that list, y'know?! I mean seriously! It's like everyone's got an agenda against me or something and…"

I was staring at the both of them from afar, and I had an amused look on my face.

Demyx and Axel were acting as though they were best friends.

Truth be told, I was still barely able to grasp the concept of comradeship here in the Organization, by from the looks of things my mentor at least seemed to be on good terms with Demyx.

"Axel! Demyx!" came that familiar cold voice and just like that, the joyful atmosphere turned dark and dreary.

Demyx who was still in the middle of his ranting, halted almost instantly upon hearing Saïx's voice.

He nervously turned around albeit slowly, to stare right in the eyes of his superior who was approaching both him and Axel.

Saïx was acting as emotionless as ever, so it was kind of hard to tell what he was feeling about Demyx's behavior prior to his arrival, and yet even so he apparently chose not to display it.

"I trust that you remember what the Superior has instructed you to do?" he asked monotonously.

"Oh uh, right... the Boss Man..." Demyx stumbled over his words, "He instructed me! Instructed me to, um... ... ..."

From behind him I was tilting my head in confusion.

Curious... Was he not aware about his mission to train me today? Surely such an important task would've been carried down to him from Lord Xemnas by someone?

To my surprise, Saïx apparently shared my line of thinking as he narrowed his eyes at Demyx.

"... uh... ... what was it again, man?" Demyx meekly whispered over his shoulder to Axel. Coupled with the steely glare Saïx was sending his way, my mentor could not help but groan in irritation.

"Does "training Naminé to learn water spells" ring any bells inside your head?" he asked Demyx with a frown.

As though he suddenly came back to the present, Demyx's eyes widened and he formed a O shape with his lips.

"Oh... right, that..." he said slowly.

Grinning back at Saïx, he assuredly exclaimed, "Don't you worry, Sir Saïx! I'll make sure Naminé passes with flying colors!"

Saïx's eyebrows furrowed, "That will not be for you to decide. That is where Naminé's mentor comes in."

Hearing his cue, Axel took a step forth and stood beside Demyx.

"As mentor, it is my duty to monitor Naminé's training and progress," he informed the blonde, "And that means I'll be grading her according to her performance on-duty."

"And if he reports that her poorness to execution is due to a flawed training," Saïx warned coldly, "You know where that puts you... Demyx."

Demyx gulped a lump in his throat at the warning.

"S-Sure! I'll keep that to memory..." he replied back, albeit nervously.

He spun onto me, and I could tell from his facial expression that he wanted to get as far away from Saïx as he could immediately.

"Come on, rookie! Time to strike up a jam and take over the world by storm!" he exclaimed at a quickened voice.

Opening up a Corridor, he bolted right into it with his tail between his legs.

Saïx was having a hand to his temple, and he was nursing a throbbing headache.

"Why do I have this sudden suspicion that you are going to do more to keep that incompetent fool in line...?" he muttered softly to Axel as he turned and started heading off.

Relieved that the drama had passed, Axel turned around and started walking towards the Corridor.

"C'mon Naminé. Something tells me that today's gonna be interesting," he said to me cheerfully as he walked past and gave a light pat on my shoulder.

I remained muted as I followed my mentor into the Corridor, feigning eagerness to be stumbling aimlessly through darkness again.

Yup.

Nothing much to see around here. Nothing but swirly auras of all kinds of dark colours and... wait, what?! Dark colours?!

At first I thought I was dreaming it, but with a pinch of my arm I knew that this was actual reality.

For the first time in my non-existence existence, I could actually make out a few distinctions in this darkness.

All around me, I watched as the sea of a dark rainbow danced across my eyes and painted the environment with so much haughty wonder. While it was beautiful, it was also radiating with so much evil and malice.

"Hey Naminé! You gonna stand there gawking at the darkness all the livelong day or what?" Axel called out to me from far ahead. His voice sliced my thoughts in half and pulled me back into reality.

I shook my head to clear my mind and promptly raced to catch up with my mentor.

As we continued walking, Axel was looking on ahead in hopes of catching sight of Demyx.

"No sign of him here," he commented with a chuckle, "Typical. Demyx could never hold out against Saïx even if it were just for a few seconds."

"Does he do that to every member?" I asked my mentor curiously.

Axel looked to me, "Who? Saïx? Nah, of course not! The more collective ones i.e. the Superior, Xaldin, Aeleus and Vexen don't think much of his daily expressions. Now for others like Xigbar, Demyx and Larxene? Boy oh bot, wouldn't you believe the effect he has on 'em!"

"It seems like Saïx could just scare almost anyone with his look alone, huh?" I remarked, with for the first time a joking vibe to my tone.

Axel laughed, "It depends on the individual!"

In a dramatic way, he looked around to make sure that there was no one else hearing our conversation (even though it was just the two of us).

He leaned close to me and whispered, "Xigbar ain't that much of a man to admit things, but between you and me, he actually has nightmares of Saïx."

My eyes widened at this fact.

"Really?" I questioned.

"Yeah, totally! I could hear him screaming in his sleep whenever I walk past his room. "AH! NO! Keep that crazy blue-hair zombie away from me! You're creeping me out, dude! No way! You ain't gonna make me get down on my knees and beg! AS IF!""

We both laughed at that humorous thought, but yet at the same time it got me thinking.

Xigbar, a sharpshooter who was full of himself, actually had nightmares?

Again, another hidden layer of the Nobodies in the Organization was being opened up to me.

Nightmares were fuelled by fear, and fear is an emotion, a feeling, and it is tied to having a heart.

So if we Nobodies came into existence in the absence of hearts, how is it that some of us still hold remnants of what we used to be?

Xigbar was a good example of that knowledge, and for certain there must be other members who still have traces of their Somebody selves within them somewhere.

Before I could dwell on further in my thinking, I realised that we were no longer in the darkness.

With wide eyes, I started looking around to gain a grasp of my surroundings.

It took me a couple of seconds to acknowledge that this was a brand new world, judging by the building structures that appeared more vastly ancient compared to Twilight Town.

Inwardly, a part of me felt disheartened to not being able to see the world again.

But another part of me became intrigued.

This was a new world. A NEW world! And that meant a chance to explore whole new areas and meet a new cast of characters that inhabited it!

Soon, my anxiety gave way to elatedness.

I could feel that temptation eating away at my form to just abandon my training and go exploring immediately.

Unfortunately however, Axel had taken notice of my eagerness and softly admonished, "Don't get carry away now, Naminé. You are only here to continue your training."

Up ahead, Demyx looked relieved to have finally arrived at somewhere that was not The World That Never Was.

I could tell from the long sigh he was letting out.

When he was done, he turned around to me and grinned earnestly.

"Welcome Naminé! To the Olympus Coliseum!" he declared and thrust out his arms like an actor in a theatrical performance.

"Colosseum?" I mumbled out softly, and I looked upwards to the towering gold statues that portrayed two gladiator warriors crossing swords.

Suddenly, my prior happy mood turned sour quickly.

A colosseum was an arena where the best fighters would fight one another, with the end result usually being death regardless of win or loss.

This is where Demyx wanted to _train_ me?! How crazy is this sitarist?!

Somehow, I had this feeling that maybe, just maybe, that Xigbar and Larxene were not the real dangers I should be steering clear off.

Demyx was clearly worse off than those two. He was a nutcase!

Axel remained silent as he started to walk calmly over to Demyx.

"Oh... Demyx Demyx Demyx Demyx..." he spoke softly as he placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Yes?" Demyx asked him expectedly.

"Remember when I told you to "think carefully about the world you wish to train Naminé at"?"

Demyx raised an eyebrow, "Uh yeah? I did? So?"

"And remember when I specifically said, "Don't pick those that courted the most violence"?"

"Yes? Why? You don't like the Coliseum?"

"Oh heavens, no! No! I completely agree with you. I absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent endorse you bringing my student here to this place! A place that checks out _all the criteria **THAT I WARNED YOU AGAINST OF MAKING!**_ "

I took a nervous step backwards from my mentor.

His voice had raised quickly with that last sentence, and I was certain that he was taking my safety very seriously.

Demyx who was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of Axel's tirade, suddenly wilted under his fiery rage (no pun intended).

"B-But..." Demyx attempted to speak up for himself but he was failing miserably under Axel's glare.

"Oh ho! Just you wait mister! I am gonna write you up for a review by the Superior!" Axel snarled at him angrily, "Training a newbie in a hostile world when instead, you ended up making her disappear into nothingness! Lord Xemnas's gonna have a field day with you, pal!"

"B-But... you haven't met my associate yet..." Demyx mumbled, and under the sun I could see the paleness showing on his face.

Axel scoffed, "Bah! That excuse ain't gonna work for you, Demyx! Guess it's high time you get turned into a Dusk!"

Upon hearing that, Demyx suddenly let out an inaudible gasp and almost instantly he was down on his knees.

"N-No... you can't..." he pleaded with my mentor, "L-Let's be reasonable, alright? M-Maybe I could um... bring Naminé to Neverland? Yeah, Neverland! It's got a nice secluded beach that no one uses! Great place, fantastic for a training site!"

He turned to me and cried out, "Naminé! What do you think?"

"U-Um..." I stumbled with my words, surprised by my sudden inclusion into this matter.

Perfect.

Just as things were about to become even nastier, I get dragged into the mix against my will.

Axel on the other hand had his arms folded and thought about the suggestion for the moment.

"Neverland... interesting choice..." he said thoughtfully.

But then he eyed at Demyx and smirked, "Too bad I heard from somebody that he vowed to never go to "boring and lame Neverland" even if it meant his own existence. Ah well, it's Dusk time!"

Turning around he started walking back to me, leaving Demyx to whimper that his last chance had been wasted.

"C'mon Naminé, how's about we spend the day exploring this world? Then we can RTC and I can write up a report about Mister Poopy Pants back there," Axel suggested to me.

I stared around at the area for a moment and then opened my mouth to respond. But that was when a new voice interrupted us.

"Well! Look what the cat dragged back in!"

All three of us turned around to the large doors in-between the golden statues.

Walking out from the opened entrance to greet us, was a creature unlike any I had seen.

He had the lower body of a goat with orange fur and brown hooves, and the upper body of a short man with an enormous gut and some hair on his chest and arms.

The top of his head was bald, save for four strands of orange hair, while the back of his hair was about shoulder-length.

He had a curly goatee and five o'clock shadow over most of his lower face.

His nose was pink and bulbous and his ears were pointed.

He had black eyes and a thin, brown uni-brow.

Finally, there were two brown goat horns sprouting out of the top of his head.

Specifically, his eyes were trained on Demyx and he had a frown on his face.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face 'round here after what you pulled," he stated with a serious voice.

Demyx looked confused by this. "Wait wait what? Wha...?" he mumbled out.

The goat man creature was glaring hard daggers at Demyx, and for a moment I thought that the situation could not get much worse than it needed to be.

But then all of a sudden, the goat man let out a belly laugh.

"Ya should've seen the stupid look on your face!" he cried out between laughs.

He walked closer to Demyx and now gave him a more light-heartened smile.

"How've ya been doin', Demmy! It's so good to see ya again!" he greeted Demyx warmly as though they were friends.

Demyx was laughing along with him and greeted back, "Nice to see you too Phil! Have you been working out?"

"Eh! Same old, same old!" the goat man called Phil replied with a wave of his hand, "Been following your advice and doin' them squats and jogs around the training arena. Let me tell ya, it works wonders for the creaky bones in my system!"

As Demyx got back on his feet, Phil asked him, "So what brings ya here, Demyx? Here to bring in more fightin' rhythm to this Coliseum colosseum?"

Demyx shook his head, "Would if I could. Nah, I'm here to train a newbie."

Phil raised an eyebrow and then took a glance behind him, towards me.

It was out of instinct that I shied my eyes away from his to avoid direct contact.

I chose instead to look down at the ground, for something minuscule to distract me.

Little did I knew that it did me more harm than good, considering that Phil's eyes suddenly widened once he recognised me as a female.

"... When you say "newbie" ... ya don't mean the lanky guy with the lion mane?" he asked Demyx.

"... _Lanky?_ " Axel muttered with a small glare and folded arms.

Demyx waved an arm, "No, not Axel. What? You think he looks inexperienced based on his appearance?"

Phil folded his arms, "Ah, so _that's_ Axel... Y'know somethin', Demmy? You're right – he probably wouldn't last a minute with all my other guys without any extra beef."

Axel's eyes started to twitch. He was starting to get a little ticked off by both Demyx and the goat man.

"Excuse me? Miss?" Phil called to me and I looked up at him.

The look on his face remained stoic, as though he was not being fazed by the almost murderous stare my mentor was directing his way.

But then as he got closer, I noticed his lips curling upwards, in a way that I founded a little bit unnerving.

"Demmy boy tells me that you're here for some training," he spoke out warmly, "You're first time here?"

I was struggling to ignore that smile of his and tried to come out with a proper response. But words failed me and I resorted to giving a silent nod.

Phil gave a laugh, "Well! Then you're in luck, young lady! Name's Philoctetes! I'm the head runner of this little establishment called the Olympus Coliseum, and as it happens I'm also the main trainer of all the heroes here. Wait, scratch that – I'm the ONLY trainer 'round these parts, 'cause I know how to rough rookies up the proper way."

He then leaned a little bit closer to me and gave me a wink.

"Between you and me, I also happen to be REALLY good at poetry," he whispered softly to me, "Maybe I could recite some verses to you? They're quite the killer buzz here in Greece."

I remained speechless as I tried to process what was going on, but thankfully my mentor chose that moment to take a load off of my shoulders.

"Sounds lovely, but no thanks," Axel told him sharply, "My student's just here to train. Once she's done, we're outta here. Capisce?"

Phil's smile dropped as quickly as a falling piece of glass, and with a frown being sent back at my mentor, he turned on his hooves and marched off.

"Where did ya find that hard case pal of yours?" he grumbled to Demyx as he stormed past, "The nut house?"

The goat man stopped short of the doors then shouted over his shoulders, "If ya wanna use the training arena, then by all means! I'll have every provision ya need set up for ya, just say the word! But I expect the place to be clean and spotless when y'all are done. Capisce?"

I could hear strong emphasis on the last word – he wanted to make sure Axel heard it.

As Phil re-entered the Coliseum, Demyx turned around to face us.

"I'll run along ahead and work with my buddy the details!" he shouted at us with a thumbs-up, "I'll let you guys know when we're all set up!"

He turned on his heels and rushed off inside.

Now that I was finally alone with Axel, I now had the opportunity to calm my mentor's nerves, even if it was just a temporary measure.

"Axel? Are you alright?" I asked him with concern.

Axel, whose eyes were still fixated at the opened doors with fuelled flames, muttered back, "Remind me to think of a comeback the next time I go on a mission with Demyx."|

Before I could respond, he suddenly started storming off towards the doors.

Well... so much for that opportunity. Its windows closed on me even before I could seize on it.

But if there was one thing I agreed with Axel, it was that today's training was going to be interesting. Really interesting.

* * *

The first fifteen minutes in the training arena felt quite... stale for my taste.

Here we were, supposed to help me acquire water spells, and what does Demyx do? He asks me to destroy barrels and boxes within a specific time limit.

As I destroyed the last of the disposable items, he was applauding me for my efforts.

"Bravo, Naminé!" he congratulated, "Now that is what I call a clean sweep! A 20-second time limit and you just obliterate everything in just five seconds."

I nodded my acknowledgement, "Thank you, Demyx. But with all due respect, shouldn't I be practising on some basic spells now?"

"Yeah, _Demmy_..." Axel chimed in unceremoniously from his front row seat at the bleachers, "What about it?"

Demyx pouted a little, "Aw, c'mon you two... don't get so worked up all of a sudden. It was just a warmup! Standard protocol to prepare every fibre of your being for the actual task at hand!"

He stretched out his arm into the air, and a bubble of water appeared in his palm. Within seconds, it metamorphized into his cherished sitar.

"Now the real fun begins!" he exclaimed gleefully.

He looked to me and gave me a thumbs-up, "Don't you worry though, Nami! We'll take this nice and slow!"

"N-Nami?" I asked him with a tilted head.

"Yeah, you know? Short form for Naminé," he clarified for me, "Sounds a little cheesy I know, but you'll get used to it. At least it's better than Axy."

"Hey, watch it!" Axel snapped back with raised eyebrows.

"Alright, the first thing you need to know before you can get to using spells, is understand the principles of Casting," Demyx said to me.

"You see, there's more to casting spells that work than just following a script. Casting spells is no easy road to getting what you want without having to make any effort other than following the spell's instructions. There's no easy path to it. It's a myth to say that the very thing you desire materializes with a "poof!" through muttering a rhyme or pointing a wand. While the Casting works, it's not instant gratification that comes without effort. When you perform a magical working or cast a spell, you have to provide it with a channel."

I was feeling a little bit intrigued by his explanation about magic.

"A channel?" I asked him.

Demyx nodded with seriousness.

"Essentially, it's a process of raising energy and directing that energy toward your goal. This energy mingles with the object of your desire and gives it a push in your direction. This is what sets the process in motion. Think of energy like electricity. Electricity doesn't just float around in the air- it travels along conduits. It runs along wires. When lightening comes down in a bolt it seeks to take the shortest distance—it seeks out something conductive, like a tree, down which it can travel. Like water flowing down the mountain, energy seeks and takes the path of least resistance. In magic, the path your energy takes is sometimes referred to as a channel. It's like creating a conduit for that energy that you raised and directed."

"My, you seem quite knowledgeable about spells," Axel remarked with a snarky tone from the sidelines, "Since when did you know about all that?"

Demyx sent a glare at him, "Sometimes I make it a point to satisfy my curiosities. You should try it sometime, Axy. And don't look up."

Axel raised an eyebrow at this and looked up, only to see a large bubble of water falls right on top of him.

My eyes widened in surprise as my mentor was now suddenly drenched all over.

Soaked to the bone, he could only cry out in terror at how tight his coat suddenly became.

Satisfied, Demyx looked back to me and continued, "The most effective spells that work will have a channel for that energy to travel. Water is easiest to control especially since it offers the least resistance in a channel. Here, let me show you."

As though on cue, a giant rectangular box materialised in a flash of light.

It was so tall, I thought it towered above even the vertical limit of the arena.

"This first spell that I'm gonna show ya is called Water."

There was a brief pause, and he stared at the unamused frown I was giving him. Really? A spell that literally copied over the term?

Demyx sighed and raised his arms in defense, "Look, I don't understand it myself, but I swear that's how the term is called. That is why sometimes I prefer to dub it as "Aqua", 'cause it sounds cooler. But the meaning's still the same."

I made a silent note to follow him on using that alternate term.

Refocusing his attention on the giant box, he played a few strings on his sitar, albeit gently.

A small piece of melody came from it, and within seconds a large ball of water formed around the box.

Demyx played one final string and the bubble exploded.

Out of instinct I shielded myself with my arms from the droplets that rained all around the arena.

Once the cascading (but temporary) rain had ceased, I lowered my arms to observe the damage done.

I was a little unsurprised to notice that the box while drenched for the most part, did nothing more than leave behind a couple of chipped surfaces and scratches.

"Aqua is the simplest spell to cast, but that benefit comes with a cost as you can see," Demyx told me and gestured to the box, "Aqua is good against regular sized things, but not so much effective on large things since it is a basic spell. But for a more advanced spell like say Aquara on the other hand however..."

He started to play on his sitar again, but this time I noticed that the melody felt a little bit tenser, more rugged.

Another bubble formed around the box, but this one noticed was far larger and far less transparent than the first one.

Almost immediately I steeled myself as the bubble exploded, and I shielded myself once more.

When everything had settled, I gazed back at the box, only to see that it was not there anymore.

My eyes then fell to the ground, and then to the broken pieces of wood scattered all around the arena.

Demyx noticed my dumfounded stare and could only grin happily for his own effort.

"The box is..." I mumbled softly. "Destroyed. Just like that," Demyx replied with a nod.

I looked on for a couple more seconds and then looked back to him, "Aquara?"

"A better version of the basic spell," Demyx explained, "But of course there are also stronger ones like Aquaga and Aquaja."

My eyes widened at this.

There were more powerful ones?

It made me anxious and excited all at once.

How far could I possibly go in mastering this type of spell?

If the damage difference between Aqua and Aquara was that wide, how powerful could Aquaja possibly be?

"But obviously we're not here to observe all the spells," Demyx then stated, "For now, we'll work on getting you to master Aqua."

"Take it slowly though," Axel called out as he attempted to dry out his coat with his fire without actually burning it off, "It's Naminé's first time after all."

Demyx sighed and replied to him, "That is why I said just now "We'll take this nice and slow!" Now go back to drying yourself off, Axy! I've got a lesson to conduct."

A couple of more boxes appeared, and I summoned up Hallowed Light into my right hand.

"Alright, let's get the ball rolling! But which one to start with? Hmm..." Demyx said as he gazed over the boxes littered around the arena.

And then he pointed at the one farthest from me.

"There! We'll victimise that guy first!" he exclaimed and walked over there.

I followed him over to the box which lay about ten feet away from where Axel was sitting at.

Standing in front of the box, I focused my attention at it.

Demyx who was standing just off to the side, instructed me, "Now! Show me watcha got, Nami! And remember what I told you!"

Narrowing my blue eyes at the medium-sized box, I attempted to focus my energy on channelling energy through my body.

I tried to picture myself as nothing more than a mere conduit, a medium for which the power could travel through.

Extending out my hand towards the box, I exclaimed at the top of my voice, "Aqua!"

I waited for a second or two for something, anything to happen.

I was disheartened that there was no bubble being conjured up at my calling.

Not even a single droplet had appeared at my behest.

I had failed at my first attempt, but I would not allow it to hold me down.

I did it a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth. Yet nothing happened.

Rendered confused, I stared down at my gloved hand muttered to myself, "It didn't work..."

"Of course it didn't," Demyx spoke up from beside me, and his voice quickly reminded me that he was observing my performance closely with watchful eyes.

I looked to him, "I don't understand... I willed for it to happen..."

"And that is the problem," Demyx counselled me, "You are attempting to will the energy to your control. You tried to think for it to happen, and _expect_ for it happen."

He walked slowly towards me, "Magic is energy, and energy is a force of nature that's created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds all the worlds together. It cannot be controlled, nor can it be tamed."

To my surprise, he patted me on the shoulder and gave me and encouraging smile.

"That's where the channelling comes into play, Nami," he continued to advise me, "It is not about what you think up here..."

An index finger was tapped on my head.

"... but what you _feel_ in here..."

He placed a hand over the area of my chest where my heart should have been.

"But we don't have hearts anymore..." I pointed out to him.

Demyx waved a hand, "Of course we don't. But does not stop us from acting out feelings, don't we? Regardless of how make-believe they really are?"

I stared speechless at him and allowed his words to sink in.

In a sense, Demyx was right.

Feelings were something that was just there. There was no explainable science to it. They do not correspond directly with the presence of a heart. For the most part, feelings were like a separate entity from both the mind, body and the heart, and they fuel how we live our lives. For both Somebodies and us Nobodies.

"See? That's the thing about a channel: it ain't about how you're thinking about energy; it's about how you feel about it," Demyx told me, "The better you understand and come to terms with it, the easier it gets to get a handle on how to maintain its flow."

He took a few steps back, "Now try again, Naminé. But this time, when you're channelling your energy, let it flow freely through your body. Let it dictate your every movement. And most important of all, do not resist its mandate."

Nodding my head curtly, I straightened my back and concentrated.

Closing my eyes, I willed myself to open up my body to forces that made up the world.

All at once I could feel the energy.

It was so vast, so free-flowing, and I could feel it entering into my form freely without any restraint.

But this time, instead of exerting my will over it, I allowed it to move coarsely through my limbs.

I allowed it to dictate my movements, my very thoughts.

I became a like puppet on strings, but I did not really mind.

Because I was not fighting back, the energy itself did not.

And then I felt it, the droplets of water that were forming at my fingertips out of thin air, and the energy flowed into them from the rest of my body.

And then once again, I took in a deep breath and exclaimed out loud, "Aqua!"

I extended out my hands and just like that, a small transparent bubble of water formed around the box.

With a gasp, I looked on at what was indeed my first successful attempt at water magic. And Demyx was thinking the same thing.

"Holy mackerel! Would ya look at that?!" he exclaimed gleefully.

He went over and patted me on the shoulder.

"You did it, Nami! Your first step into the world of magic!" he congratulated and gestured at the bubble.

We stared at it for a while longer, but then a realisation came to my mind.

"Isn't the bubble supposed to–"

The bubble exploded, effectively dousing both myself and Demyx in cold water.

Both of us stood there, completely silent and drenched, and I could feel the blowing of the winds freezing up my body quickly.

"... forgot about that one..." Demyx finally spilled out in an embarrassed mumble.

Just when things could not be anymore humiliating, the voice of my mentor shouted from the bleachers, "Hey! Nice weather for a swim!"

Growling, Demyx spun on him and twirled his sitar.

"Dance, water, dance!" he exclaimed and began playing on his instrument.

As I watched, water forms of himself appeared and started advancing on Axel.

Even though I was far away, I could see the grin that was forming on Axel's face as he summoned his Chakrams.

"Why don't you go ahead and try destroying the rest of the boxes with the Aqua spell, Nami?" Demyx instructed her, "Meanwhile I'm gonna put Axy is his place! This has been a long time coming for him!"

As he started heading off towards the ensuing fight, playing an erratic melody on his sitar as he did, I shook my head in exasperation and faced the remaining boxes.

I then looked down at my blade, and decided to use the remaining time to practise both my spell and my combat.

The fight between fire and water raged in the background as I continued on with my training on my own.

It took me quite a while to switch around between my physical attacks and the Aqua spell, but I quickly overcame that little obstacle and went forwards with taking out the remaining boxes.

Within ten minutes, I had destroyed the last one with an Aqua spell; I had to shield myself with my blade from the cascading drops of waters.

Then noticing that the noise of battle was silent, I turned around to see both Axel and Demyx on the ground, exhausted and gasping for air.

"Looks like you're getting better at this, Demmy," Axel remarked with a humourless chuckle.

Demyx scoffed back, "And you're getting slower at your age, Axy."

"Pfft! I'm over twenty years of age!" Axel rebuffed.

"I know right? So OLD!" Demyx retorted with a grin.

I was fighting that temptation to shake my head at them both.

Here we were, supposed to be training and monitoring me, and now they were going to fight it out like children?

Sometimes, I wonder how many mature members there were in the Organization that were at least sensible enough to have common sense and reasoning.

I let out a loud cough which caught both of their short attention span, and they turned to look at my glowering expression.

"If you two are done playing with dangerous knives, could we return back to the Castle now?" I rhetorically questioned them like a disappointed mother.

Demyx wave a hand, "Sure, sure... why not! I'm getting a little beat up myself! I need some me time!"

Axel scoffed, "You would..."

Rising up to his feet, Demyx said, "Right, I'll head on over to the lobby and tell Phil that we'll be leaving. In the meantime, you and Axy here can help clean up the entire arena!"

He started walking away whilst whistling to a chirpy little tune, when all of a sudden, he jumped back as a Chakram landed right in front of him covered in flames.

Angry that he was almost got hit, he spun around to face the one in question.

"Hey! Watch where you boomerang that thing!" he snapped angrily at my mentor, who let out a little chuckle.

"Sorry Demmy, but you ain't getting' out of working that easily," Axel replied back with a sly grin, "You're gonna help us with the clean-up whether ya like it or not!"

Demyx groaned, "Oh... do I really have to...?"

"You don't want to? That's fine! It's cool!" Axel snarked with an even wider grin, "I'll just write that into the report and submit it to the Superior then."

Demyx's response was instantaneous.

He quickly zipped over to the nearest debris and started to pick them up.

With a chuckle and a shake of his head, Axel turned to me and said, "And that's how you put a lazy co-worker into doing things."

I raised an eyebrow, "Demyx is lazy?"

"For the most part? Yes," Axel replied with a shrug, "Although I gotta give him credit. For all that laziness of his, he actually has all his screws nice and tight. Even now I'm honestly surprised that he taught you as well as he did."

With a gesture of his head, my mentor started heading on over to the debris.

"C'mon! Let's help the poor beggar out!" he called over his shoulder.

"I heard that!" Demyx chimed in from in front of him.

The next fifteen minutes were spent cleaning up the entire training arena.

But while all the wooden litter were removable, the patches of water were not.

When Axel had suggested that he used his fire to dry up those spots, I told him it was better this way than to leave behind patches of scorched earth.

When we addressed the issue to Phil when we met him at the lobby, he told us not to worry about it; the sun would dry the wet patches out.

As we began leaving the lobby through the doors, Phil pulled me back and told me, "Remember Miss, if you'd ever wish to come back for more training, I'll be happy to set aside the arena for ya. But if you ever decide to take me up on that poetry offer, well then I'll just have to–"

"Ahem!" came the voice of my mentor, and I turned around to see Axel standing there, with folded arms and foot tapping impatiently.

He was glaring daggers at the goat man.

Wanting to quickly diffuse the situation before it escalated, I looked back to Phil and replied, "Thank you for your suggestion, sir. If there is time I would be most interested to hear your poems."

Phil brightened up at this.

"Sweet! I'll see ya 'round then Miss!" he exclaimed with a wave of his hand.

I waved back as I followed my mentor out through the doors.

As we headed towards the Corridor that Demyx had opened for us, Axel whispered to me, "Stay away from that creep. He's clearly the flirty type."

And I nodded my head to it without any arguments. It also had me a little disturbed and worried.

Did he do that to every female woman he ever came across? If that was the case than the Coliseum was being ran by a... a... w-woman...iser...

When we arrived back at the Castle, we were greeted by Saïx who as usual was standing like a immobile statue and staring at us both.

"Welcome back you two," he greeted us in a way that did not feel at all genuine and then looked at Axel, "I trust that Demyx had done as he was tasked?"

Axel nodded his head, "Righty-o, ol' buddy ol' pal. With much success if you could imagine it." I noticed as Saïx's eyebrows went up slightly.

"Success, you say?" he questioned, with a tone that sounded just like... surprise?

Axel grinned, "Ah yup! I could write you up a two-pager report if you wish! And I can guarantee both you and Lord Xemnas are gonna have a field day with this one!"

Saïx stared at him for a silent moment before he slowly nodded his head.

"You know the procedure. Submit the report to Vexen before 1800 hours this evening," he instructed, "The Superior will review it in his chambers."

He turned around and headed on his way out of the Grey Area.|

With a sigh, Axel turned to me and said, "Well, looks like it's more paperwork for me."

"Do you ever get tired of it?" I asked him.

"You betcha, but don't worry, it never gets to me," my mentor replied with a light chuckle, "You did good today, Naminé. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, the both of us went on our separate ways.

As I continued along the hallways towards my room, I heard some familiar music coming from up ahead.

I quickened my pace as I arrived at Demyx's room.

From where I was just outside the door, I caught sight of my trainer who was strumming on the strings of his sitar on his bed.

He appeared to be enjoying every bit of the melody that he was playing, considering the peaceful smile on his face.

But before I could even stop myself, my hand subconsciously knocked against the open door lightly. Hearing this made Demyx jump slightly at the foreign noise.

Then he noticed me and his mood relaxed.

"Oh my... I thought you were Larxene..." he muttered softly.

Putting his sitar beside him, he asked, "So what's up, Nami? Here to hear some beautiful tunes courtesy of yours truly?"

I shook my head a little, although his proposal sounded lovely.

"Actually, I'm here to give you my thanks," I told him.

Demyx raised an eyebrow, "Whatever for?"

I smiled warmly, "For teaching me about magic today. I also thought that casting spells was merely a trivial thing. Because of you, I learnt that even the simplest of spells are actually difficult to channel."

Demyx chuckled a little and then nodded his head, "No thanks are necessary, kiddo. I just taught you how to properly use it. It's not always chalk and cheese when it comes to spells, y'know? It takes a lot of effort and willpower to even maintain that flow of energy. Just remember what I taught you today, and you should be alright with learning other spells in the future, okay?"

"Of course, Demyx," I replied back with a nod, "And again, thank you. I probably couldn't have fulfilled my training today without your tutelage."

Demyx smiled genuinely, "Like I said, no problem Nami. And you know something? What those other guys say about you are wrong. You're truly amazing, Naminé. You would make for an awesome member in the Organization."

* * *

I felt a little bit of warmth soothing my soul as I entered my room.

I could not believe it. I had earned Demyx's respect!

And what that meant for me was that if I could win over Demyx's trust, then I could possibly do the same for the other members.

Of course it would still be an uphill struggle, considering that every other member was not like Demyx.

Larxene was cynical. Xigbar was full of himself. Saïx was cold and uncaring towards the others. Every member had his or her own personality that made them what they were.

But I was determined to keep fighting on. Especially since I had managed to learn a new spell today after a few failed attempts.

Nothing was impossible if I never lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel.

As I sat down at my bedside, I looked down at my hand and removed the glove.

Then I concentrated hard, and allowed the aura of energy flow through me once more.

The energy flowed through my arms and into my hands, where they conjured up droplets of water from out of thin air.

I smiled softly as I marvelled at my new ability, eager for what awaited ahead of me.

* * *

 **Wow oh wow... over 9000 words long! Who knew that having so much fun writing could turn out a lengthy chapter?!**

 **But anyways, we have now witnessed Naminé taking her first steps into mastering magic. The reason I chose water as the first type of spell can be summed up in a few ways:**

 **1\. Water is perceived as calm, cooling and soothing. As Demyx has mentioned above, it offers least resistance. So it would be easy for someone like** **Naminé to start with.**

 **2\. The concept of the various spell forms for Water is based on the ones adopted by the Final Fantasy games. Since there no Water-based spells in the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise (besides Blizzard), I thought it a good opportunity to make it canon in this story.**

 **Also the lesson of magic was inspired by the lore of the Force in Star Wars, primarily A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and for good reason. Magic, like the Force, is a type of energy that comes from all life forms. It cannot be commanded against its own will. It commands us in every possible way. The philosophy of magic is based around what it is, but not _how_ it is. It is about the experience, but not _why_ it is being experienced. About feeling it, but not _touching_ it. For certain it does not delve too much into the facts and expositions, and it is more than enough to keep thought-provoking questions going. And that is what ****Naminé would be going through much like Luke Skywalker before her, as we push onwards throughout this story, towards the ending of its first arc (at the end of the first KH game).**

 **Personally, I enjoyed giving Demyx the time to shine in the spotlight as he did, especially with his friction with Axel. But I also chose to give his character more perspective, as it allows** **Naminé to see through her eyes that Demyx, possibly the most laid-back member of the Organization, is more than what he is perceived to be. A layer is being peeled away, giving** **Naminé a bigger perspective about the inner characters of the members of the Organization.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please feel free to leave constructive feedback if you have any issues at all! Your voices are gladly appreciated to me to continue improving on this story!**

 **See you guys next time!**


	7. Another Side - An Encounter in Time

**Alright, I'm going to cheat a little this time 'round. Every now and then, there are going to be side chapters throughout the main stories.**

 **To waive aside confusion, they shall be dubbed as "Another Side". Keep tabs on each and every one of 'em, because they'll be snippets what is to come in the future for this story.**

 **Rest assured though, this does not mean that my interest in A Princess' Nobody has waned - I just need more time to come up with the next chapter.**

* * *

 **Altar of Naught**

His yellow-orange eyes blazed with such fervour as he stared up high into the starless sky of the world of the Organization.

The only light that came down from the heavens was the pale heart-shaped moon that was Kingdom Hearts.

His Kingdom Hearts.

Before Xemnas was everything that he had been researching under the tutelage of his teacher.

The studies of the human heart, to the creation of the Heartless.

It was the zenith of his life's work, and the description was fitting, seeing as the moon was at its highest point in the sky, shining down upon its creator.

He could just feel it in his bones.

With every passing moment, he came one step closer to realising his ultimate goal.

And while the achievement of that goal would bear negated consequences due to its nature, Xemnas could care less about what would eventually befall the other twelve members.

Especially for his newest (and youngest) member.

Ever since he had first gazed down upon her from his chair in the Round Room, Xemnas knew that he had hit diamond with her.

While there was much that he still did not know about Naminé, he was still holding true to his optimism that she was a very special Nobody.

His belief was reinforced by the number of reports that her mentor Axel had been penning down throughout her entire training.

Needless to say, he was amused and curious by how fast she was going in terms of progress.

Whilst a regular member would perfect his skills over the course of a few months to years, Naminé was a stark contrast.

In a matter of just a few days, she was starting to show signs of growing effectiveness.

There were neither negative remarks nor any alerts to injuries on her reports so far, and Axel had commented that "Naminé portrays an aptitude for putting her training to exceedingly good use" and that "unlike other members, she shows keen interest in perfecting combat skills, regardless of how much time that may be wasted".

All in all however, Xemnas still had to take everything with a pinch of salt.

Technically Naminé was still in the early stages of her training, and that the true results of her progress would showcase themselves when she went out to perform her first solo assignment.

But Xemnas was confident. It was clear to him that Naminé still had much potential to grow even stronger.

And with the right pushes and pulls, she could be moulded to become one of his most powerful weapons.

Any concerns or fears he had about her would be allayed, considering that Naminé showcased constant obedience and loyalty to the Organization.

With an intake of fresh air, Xemnas smiled darkly and raised his arms up high towards his pet project in the sky.

"Naminé..." he thought to himself with utmost satisfaction, "You shall be the Queen piece upon the chessboard." He grinned ever so wider.

Just then however, he heard the swirling sounds of a Corridor opening up from behind him. And then it disappeared a second later, replaced by the sounds of boots clapping softly against the marble-tiled ground.

Xemnas' expression suddenly darkened. He could sense that the person standing behind him was not a member of the Organization.

"It is not often that I get... visitors..." he intoned darkly as he lowered his arms down to his sides.

And then slowly, he casted a side glance over his shoulder, staring down the figure who was donned in the same hooded coat as the rest of the Organization.

He waited a few seconds to get a response out of the stranger, but all that he earned was absolute silence.

Frowning angrily with waning patience, he spun around and shot out electric bolts from his hand. The bolts struck the stranger alright, but not where he was expecting.

The hand of the figure was stretched outwards to take the brunt of the attack, but the figure itself showed no signs of bodily harm.

It was as though he was absorbing the bolts through his open hand.

It went on for several seconds before Xemnas finally decided to stop.

He closed his palm, effectively cutting off the flow of electricity.

The figure did the same, as the remaining electric currents disappeared from his palm.

"State your business," Xemnas demanded warily, his arms stiff and his fists clenched. He was prepared for anything that figure might throw at him.

The figure stared at him longingly, and then let out a short scoff.

"Business?" he parroted in a mocking tone, "There is no _business_."

He raised his arms up to his hood and grabbed at its edges. As the hood was slowly pulled back, Xemnas watched as the light of Kingdom Hearts brought the person's face out of the shadows.

His silver hair had slight spikes and fell past his shoulders in the back; albeit with four bangs framing his face, the back two thicker than the front two, and the topmost one slicked back.

With yellow eyes piercing right into Xemnas' own, the young man stated, "There is only the matter of **time**."

Xemnas' eyes narrowed, for he recognised the appearance of the young man.

"How long has it been since I had gazed upon that look..." he muttered softly to himself.

The young man smirked, "Far too long, it would seem."

He took a few steps forward, and Xemnas responded by firing a electric barrage right at his feet.

"You will stay where you are, imposter," he growled darkly.

The young man was unfazed by his threat, "Pity, I could say the same thing of you."

Xemnas seethed, apparently offended by his remark.

"What do you want?" he demanded in restrained calmness.

The young man remained expressionless, "Just a moment of your time. I will be brief, but what I am going to tell you is of the utmost importance... concerning our future."

" _Our_ future?" Xemnas questioned in mild confusion. The young man smiled wryly, "Let us discuss your thirteenth member. Naminé."


	8. The Way the Earth Turns

**Eheheheheheh... okay um... remember when I said that I needed more time to write out the next chapter? Heheheheh... Well I was sort of busy with...**

 **Okay enough with the acting already! I sincerely, genuinely apologise that this took so long! Had a lot of stuff going on for the past many months! Life can be a real bitch at times.**

 **But now that Kingdom Hearts III has (finally) been released, I thought it the perfect time to revive this sleeping fic!**

 **Hopefully this SUPER-long chapter is enough to make up for that ridiculously huge gap, and I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Day 16 (Axel's POV)**

Terrific... just terrific... Just woken up from another mere four hours of beauty sleep and I get a summons' notice?

Jeez Louise, can a guy catch a break every now and then?

It also did not help that the notice came directly from my dark and brooding best friend himself.

Being a mentor for a newbie does have its perks. Getting an unofficial vacation break from solo missions at times being one of 'em. But the consequence was having to contend with Saïx more on a professional level than conversing with him in normal chit-chat.

To most it would slowly become grating on the nerves overtime, but to someone like myself, I can get by. Mostly.

As I neared the entryway that housed the Library within, I pursed my lips. In all manner of speaking, this vapid place was the working office of one certain member of the Organization.

A scientist to be more specific. And he would never allow those that he did not like or deemed inferior to enter without personal consent and an escort. Pretty much sums up Vexen's hilariously dense paranoia. Even the slightest movement of a book would send that clown into a hissy fit!

Which now brought me to my next thought. Vexen hated Saïx's guts, probably more so than any other member. And Saïx had never ever bothered to approach Vexen to start even a simple conversation. So why was it that my friend was awaiting for me here? The Library of all places?

But as quickly as that thought came, I shook it out of my mind.

Eh, what does it matter if Saïx's gained access? His little feud with Vexen is not my problem. In fact, Saïx had told me himself that he didn't require any help with the scientist, although he could've stressed it me in a less authoritative way.

I reached for the door handle and pushed it open. Quickly entering the Library, I noticed the considerable number of grey bookshelves that covered almost the entirety of the room. And then I noticed at the far-end of the place where the window was, a mop of blue hair stood out against the dull colours of the shelves.

Just as I was about to head over to Saïx, I suddenly halted myself. Why do I get the feeling that maybe, just maybe... my friend wants to talk more about just Naminé's training?

"Are you going to stand there idling all day?" the cold voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I stared forwards to Saïx, who was standing right the very end of the Library, glaring me down.

"Approach, Axel," he ordered vehemently.

With an inward sigh, I started making my way over to him. As the distance continued to close between us, I struggled not to break contact with his eyes, and tried to push away any lingering thoughts.

Here was where Saïx was now in control. Anything that he said or ordered, I had to follow along without any objections. It almost felt like I was talking directly to the Boss Man himself, which made it all the more unsettling every time I spoke with him.

Within a few minutes, I was just standing there, face-to-face with him that felt like a staring contest of sorts.

Wait, if it were a staring contest, then I'd have my butt burned into a cinder within seconds, 'cause quite honestly Saïx is scaring the living daylights outta me!

Thankfully, the contact did not last that long. Saïx blinked and turned around back to the table he was staring at.

"It took you long enough," he muttered out monotonously, "I was beginning to think you had chosen to sleep in. Again."

"What? You were worried that I was going to wake up late again?" I asked back in my usual cheerful tone.

Saïx turned his head slightly, "I thought that was your daily routine."

I chuckled, "C'mon, man! How long have we known each other? Whenever there's serious biz, I've always tuned myself appropriately! And considering that I'm in-charge of Naminé, it definitely comes in handy."

I heard a loud huff from the blue-haired zombie.

"Good. At least you understand the importance of discipline and consistency," he replied back as he stared down at what appeared to be a book that he had been reading, "Lord Xemnas requires these two important aspects for the Organization to progress efficiently towards completing Kingdom Hearts."

A grin slowly crept onto my face.

"Flattery, eh? That's so not like the regular Saïx, Saïx," I remarked with snark.

Because of the way my friend was facing away from me, I couldn't really tell what his reaction was, but I could imagine him simply rolling his eyes at my comment.

"I have a message from Lord Xemnas," Saïx began getting down to business, "It concerns Naminé."

Hearing the name of my student suddenly made me all alert and serious.

"What about her?" I asked.

"It has already been nearly a week a have gone by since Naminé first began training," Saïx continued on, "And Lord Xemnas has been more than pleased with her performance thus far."

I waved a hand as if it were the most casual thing I heard, "Yeah yeah, I know. I've been getting consistent memos on that detail."

It was at that moment, Saïx turned around to face me, his darkened glower being directed my way.

 _"Yup. Gone and upset him again,"_ I thought to myself and raised my arms apologetically.

"As I was saying... the Superior has been impressed with our newest member. And now he believes she is ready for the real work," Saïx stated.

I quirked an eyebrow at his statement. What did he mean by that?

"Inform Naminé, that starting from the end of next week, she will commence her solo missions."

I was taken aback by this.

"S-So... so soon?" I clarified with a look of surprise.

Saïx's eyes narrowed, "That is correct. Why? Do you believe that your pupil is not ready yet?"

He took a step closer to me, "Or were the reports you wrote just made-up fantasies?"

Quickly, I waved my hands in a frantic motion.

"What? No, of course not! Why would I ever _fabricate_ a training report, huh? Ya know me better than that! It's definitely not like me to just sell out my student like that, now would I?"

Saïx bore down his eyes deep into my soul for a long moment. Jeez Louise, how in the heck does he even do that, intimidating me to no end?

With a sigh, he turned back around to the table.

"Naminé will have another seven days after today to complete her basic training. From there on, she will be on her own," he spoke out coldly, "You would do well to prepare her for her upcoming missions within that time frame. Is that understood?"

I hesitated for a brief moment before replying back, "Sure. Of course."

Saïx grunted back, "Today she will be partnered with Lexaeus to learn about Earth spells. Unfortunately however, you will not be there with her today."

I let out a choked gasp as his statement, "W-What?!"

"The Superior has a reconaissance mission for you, and has instructed Number VI to relay them to you. Find him and he will give you all the details pertaining to your mission."

Saïx then noticed the look of protest that I had on my face, and gave me a questioning glare. "What's the matter, Axel? Do you have any objections to this subject?"

Words were forming at my lips, but I had absolutely no idea how to voice them out vocally.

Did I have an objection, you bet your bottom dollar I do!

For a newbie to just get sent straight into her first solo missions that quickly? And to let Lexaeus solely supervise her current pace of training without me?

It made me wonder what was going through the Superior's head. What was it that caused him to make such hasty decisions like this? Typically the standard protocol was to send newbies into the field, only when they had gained enough experience and confidence, and that only comes right about five weeks or so after their training commences.

Naminé had only started just about _two_ weeks ago.

Granted my star pupil had been progressing surprisingly well, even by the standards of most Organization members; a most likely factor for the Superior's decision to send her out this early. But still I felt it was too soon for her to start performing regular duties.

And don't get me started on Naminé getting partnered up with Lexaeus too. Of all the members in the Organization, that axe-wielding brute can be a real hard ass at the most _abrupt_ moments, and I really mean it. One moment he is calm and stoic, and the next... ...well, I'd rather not talk about it. All I do know is that Naminé was not ready to take on that kind of push yet, not when she still needed me to guide her along.

But seeing the look on Saïx, I knew I had to tread carefully as well, no matter what way I tried to protest, Saïx always seemed to get what he wanted. Bet it compliance to orders or simply just wanting things done the way he saw it.

But just as I opened my mouth to start responding however, Saïx spoke out coldly, "Lexaeus has already been briefed on what level of discipline your pupil should get, so you should not be so concerned with her. The task the Superior has given you is of the utmost importance, and possibly vital to the Organization's goal. I'm sure you won't have to let your fear cloud your judgement on this matter."

I stared at him hard for a long while, knowing that this was a battle that I couldn't win.

With a loud yielding sigh, I raised up my arms and stated, "Yeah, yeah... I get the memo."

"Dismissed."

Without another word, I turned and headed out of the Library, but before I exited the entranceway I stopped to chance one more glance at my friend who was busily browsing through the book he was sticking his nose in. Like I was never ever there.

* * *

 **(Naminé's POV)**

 _"Whoever thought that waking up at 6 in the morning could be quite the hassle for my body?"_

That was the same question pretty much every laid-back member of the Organization would think to themselves every morning. And as much as I hate to admit it, the same sentiment was starting to creep into my thoughts whenever I awake from my slumber albeit groggily.

Not that I was complaining of course. Surely anyone would wake up early in the morning just to make full use of the day working or doing whatever jobs that they were assigned? And while we were Nobodies now, we still bear the appearance of Somebodies, so logically the morning principle also applied to us.

But that did not stop me from stretching out my stiff arms and yawning as I semi-consciously ambled my way into the Lounge Room. Clear signs that I hadn't a chance to get enough rest through slumber. And who could blame me for feeling this way?

Even though my training yesterday was relatively more relaxed as compared to other days, that did not stop Axel from lecturing me when we returned to the Castle.

Apparently he was still being quite a sour lemon after his bout with Demyx, so he chose to barge into my room unannounced and began taking out all his frustrations on me.

At first I was surprised and then terrified once I saw those piercing green eyes, but when he started going on a ranting tirade about what I did wrong at the Coliseum, I started to feel a lot more annoyed and deadpanned.

Somehow, his review of my performance felt more like a rehash of that lesson he did with me just a few days ago. Only this time he was raving about like some moronic lunatic.

I had been tempted to just burst out laughing at how over-the-top his dramatic performance was, but then I has remembered my first days of training. Axel would probably just add on to it tenfold for me making fun of him at his expense.

But alas, Axel's lecturing had burnt into my sleeping time. And thus, here I was, lazily dragging the heels of my boots across the floor as I entered the Lounge Room. My eyes were so droopy, that they barely even acknowledged the looks the other members present in the area were giving me.

"Looks like Little Miss Blondie didn't get enough beauty rest last night!" the familiar gruff voice commented aloud in a taunting way. I immediately recognised it at Xigbar's.

"Is that so? Why, I almost assumed that she's right about feeling sober." It was easy to heart that charismatic vocality of Luxord's.

"Hah! You thought she was actually _drinking_ last night? As if!" Xigbar scoffed back with a laugh, "I mean look at her! Even with one eye I can tell that she ain't of age yet to be tasting strong liquor!"

"There is one more than one way describe a word, Xigbar. No. I was merely commenting the way she appears rather subdued from the lack of energy."

"Tch! Why're you two bothering much with this weakling anyway? She'll be fully awake once she gets to her mission, whether she likes it or not."

My body stiffened and froze upon hearing that third voice, as I quickly sensed the coldness and sadism in her voice. A feeling of dread filled my shell of a body as I heard sharp footsteps marching over towards me.

Before I even had a chance to react, a gloved hand gripped me at my chin and forced me to look up into a pair of pitiless green eyes. It almost felt like I was staring down into the jaws of a nightmarish monster.

A sinister grin forming at her lips, Larxene questioned me mockingly, "Isn't that right, _Number XIII?_ "

I struggled hard to form words at my mouth, but it seemed almost impossible as the blonde tightened her grip and pressed her fingers deep into my cheeks, like a boa constricting the life out of its prey. It's as if she did not want me to speak at all in her presence.

After seconds of silence, Larxene's grin fell and she began sneering darkly.

"I don't know what the Superior sees in you, but make no mistake, _Naminé_..."

She spoke my name with such venom and disgust, and it was scaring me.

"... don't think for one second that you can just come into the Organization and start humiliating the rest of us. This is the big leagues, little girl. For grown-ups. And if you screw this up for all of us, I will not hesitate to end your miserable existence on-the-spot. Do I make myself clear?"

I fell short of giving her an immediate reply. Somehow, there was this unknown feeling in the pit of my stomach that was seeping into my thoughts. Something that I never thought I would have. **Defiance**.

Larxene then growled even louder, as though she was able to sense that feeling inside of me, and I felt my body tremble a little, the feeling of lightning coursing through my form.

"Looks like you've got a bit of fire in you, for a girl who looks so innocent," she snarled, "Let me remind you of your proper place in our ranks."

It was at that moment that I felt nothing else but a searing fire that coursed all around and through my body, and a high-piercing scream escaped through my mouth. Instantly all my muscles tightened up, effectively disabling my ability to move.

And to think... my time in the Organization was starting to feel more... liveable... I had made good friends out of my mentor Axel and Demyx...

And now I was going to die.

And at the hands of one of the members that I had attempted to avoid. Why did things never turn out the way I want them to?

It hurt... oh god it hurt so much...

"My dear... I think it's unwise for you to do this," I heard Luxord's wary voice call out over my screaming, "If the Superior finds out what has befallen our dear young maiden then-"

"To HELL with the boss, Gambler!" Larxene snapped back, "I think it's time for sweet and innocent Naminé to get some proper motivation! Get a little bit of... tough love."

Abruptly, she released her grip on my chin and the electricity quickly fizzled out from my body. But the after effects however... was quite prevalent.

Within a split second, I founded myself in a heap on the ground. My body was numb, stripped of all senses. And my thoughts were in a hazy, blurry mess.

But the only thing that still remained was that growing sense of humiliation that went through my mind, aware that Luxord, Xigbar... and Larxene were still observing me.

"Bah! Such a pathetic little toy you turned out to be!" Larxene huffed out in annoyance, "One way or another, I'm _so_ gonna enjoy breaking you." She turned on her heels and headed off.

With a shake of his head at what has taken place, Xigbar commented to himself, "Not precisely the wake-up call that I had in mind... but whatever floats her boat."

He sauntered off without another word, leaving Luxord as the last one that remained, who continued to silently stare down at me. Somehow I could sense an expression of pity that had formed on his face. But do I really deserve it? After everything that I've been through thus far.

My mentor, Demyx and possibly Lord Xemnas aside, almost every other member had treated me like I was of less worth than dirt. I have been given little to no respect as to what I now am, nor was I regarded like I was of any worth to the Organization.

So it was unsurprising that I was feeling rather tempted to tell of Luxord as he gazed down at me. Ready to let loose all of my anger and frustrations his way. What did I have to lose? To the rest, I was just mere cannon fodder in the grander scheme of things. Just a spoke on the wheel that continues to keep turning, with or without me.

But just as I opened my mouth to do so, there was a shuffling of feet as Luxord did something unexpected. He knelt down close to my level and placed something on the ground right next to me. Eyeing it for a brief moment, I was surprised to see that it was an Elixir bottle.

As he rose to his full height again, Luxord advised me calmly, "I'd rather not have Axel come in here to see you in this state, young lass. Else it would be an entire day of written enquiries being put up to the Superior. And that would put you in a tighter spot under Larxene's scrutiny."

And with that, he turned and began heading off out of the Lounge Room, leaving me behind to ponder over what he just said. Luxord... Did he...? Did he just... ... _help_ me...? Of all the Nobodies here... He didn't have to... but he did anyway... Did he actually _care_ for me?

Unfortunately I would be denied any chance of dwelling on the subject any further, for I heard the familiar voice of my mentor coming in from behind me.

Acting quickly, I reached over and grabbed the Elixir bottle. I uncorked the top then took a huge gulp of the green liquid.

Within seconds, almost all of the injuries Larxene had dealt me had gone, with the exception of my muscles aching from being tight for so long. That one was going to take time to heal up, but I could manage it.

Quickly getting to my feet, I stuffed the bottle into one of my coat pockets, just as my mentor arrived in the Lounge Room.

"Yeah, yeah. I get the picture. There's strong Heartless activity in Hollow Bastion, right? I'll get right on it once I've sent my pupil on her way to good ol' Lex," Axel stated with a nonchalant wave of his hand in the face of one he was conversing with.

Pushing aside the hand with a disapproving glower, Zexion stated, "I'd advise you to exercise caution, though. Hollow Bastion is the world where the evil fairy Maleficent currently resides, which means the Heartless over there are at their apex. Confronting them head-on would be unwise, especially since you are going into enemy territory alone."

Casting a grin to the Cloaked Schemer, Axel replied back, "Relax and take a chill pill, Zexion. I've done recon missions more times than I can count the spikes in my hair. Besides, the Superior wouldn't have tasked me with this gig if I wasn't capable enough."

I tilted my head in confusion at what I was hearing. Recon? What did my mentor mean by that? Was he going to teach me about scouting areas today?

Casting a glance at me to acknowledge my presence, Axel then said to Zexion, "Looks like duty calls again. See you after my mission yeah? Maybe we could hang out for dinner some time."

Zexion frowned in unamusement, "I prefer eating as I work, thank you very much."

With those not-so-friendly parting words, the pair went on their separate ways, with my mentor approaching me with his usual stride.

"Good morning Naminé! Had a good night's sleep in the haystack?" he greeted me with that casual-going grin of his.

Greeting back with a cheerful smile, I replied, "Not exactly. But I will freshen up eventually."

A part of me still wanted to tell him off for giving me that agonizing lecture last night, but I chose to close one eye this time. It was essentially just him letting out a bit of steam after his tussle with Demyx, and I couldn't really fault him for acting the way he did. Another part however wanted me to refrain from speaking about what happened with Larxene before he showed up. My mentor did not need more problems to be stacked atop his plate.

With his hands at his hips, Axel wittily chuckled out, "Well, looks like someone's feelin' pumped up today! But can she back that up?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, it depends on what type of mission I going to do today. And that would be...?"

I allowed my sentence to trail off on purpose, expectantly prompting and awaiting his briefing on my mission.

His green eyes widening as though he suddenly remembered about it, and Axel started rubbing his neck.

"Right um... the mission! Well... what was it again..." he trailed off in thought to himself.

All I could do in turn was just stare at him with almost complete unamusement. Somehow... I was just expecting for my mentor to forget about a mission. Just for one day. It made life here a little bit more interesting.

After a few seconds he snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Bingo! Now I remember!"

But then his smile faltered and he suddenly became somewhat hesitant.

"Unfortunately you're probably not gonna like what I'm gonna say..." he muttered out.

My earlier jovial expression faded away, as the sudden weight of his words flowed into my ears.

"W-What do you mean by that?" I asked him softly, although there was mixture of anxiety and fear in my tone.

Axel sighed deeply, then looked me squarely in the eyes.

"Your next phase of training will be headed by Lexaeus," he stated plainly, "And that means attaining Earth magic is your main task for today."

My body was frozen fixed to the ground as this knowledge hit me.

 _Lexaeus?_ As in that tall, hulking man who wielded an axe? I never thought of him to be a trainer, considering he's seemingly more of the silent type.

"Well... okay. It shouldn't be a problem at all," I proclaimed with renewed euphoria, and I opened up my arms wide, "We'll show him that I'm capable of handling anything the Organization throws at me!"

But just like that, that happy moment shattered once I noticed that Axel was not joining in with his usual quips and snarky remarks.

A feeling of dread creeped into my mind, as a sudden harrowing thought surfaced. My mentor always made a funny comment whenever I said something positive. Always. And for him to not follow along this time... as well as the way he was frowning at me. It could only mean one thing: this was a serious matter... and he was not done speaking yet.

"That's the thing..." Axel said a tone of actual seriousness, "You'd probably noticed just now, what with me conversing with Zexion and all, no?"

I nodded my head, "Yes. Something about this "Hollow Bastion", right? Why? What's wrong?"

Axel folded his arms, "As it turns out, I've got a mission of my own to attend to for the day. And you know what that means... right?"

At first I was a little confused by his statement, but then as the seconds went by, I put two and two together. My blue eyes widened with horror.

"You... You're not... coming with us... With me..." I mumbled out.

Axel looked rather remorseful at the sheer sadness on my face, and he knew why. He was the only person that I was extemely close to, and it would kill me to see us separated like this. He reached over to place a firm hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it, okay?" he tried to soothe me, "I've got reassurance that good ol' Lex will take care of you properly. Just try not to do anything in front of him that you would do in front of me and you should to be okay in his book. 'Kay?"

Lowering my head down towards the floor, I nodded my head albeit half-hesitantly and half-reluctantly. But somewhere deep inside of me, I still wanted to believe that this was just some stupid practical joke that the other members were pulling on me right now. Wishing (for once) that Saïx would just step out to say that the Superior had changed his mind and allowed my mentor to accompany me.

"B-But it doesn't feel right... separating a mentor from his student during the training phase..." I muttered out sombrely.

Axel frowned sadly at the tone of my voice, and he simply sighed and folded his arms.

"Doesn't sit well with me either, but there's nothin' much I can do about it," he stated bluntly with a shake of his head, "Orders from the top and all that."

A pit of anger was swelling up within me, but I did my best to hold it down. Now was probably not a good time to start voicing out my protests. My mentor was right - orders were orders, no matter how much crappy they turn out to be. And as members we were obliged to do as the Superior mandated. After all, every task was to help our goal of achieving Kingdom Hearts.

And besides, the Superior was the one who I respected the most. He was the one after all who took me into this fold when I had nowhere else to go. I owed him much in that regard. Axel comes in at a close second, since he was the one who saved me from that dark dimension place.

Maybe it was because I was still relatively a child compared to the rest, or maybe I was originally a well-mannered and obedient little Somebody girl, but I felt a huge obligation to both my mentor and my Superior. They had performed acts of generosity towards me, and that was more enough to earn my absolute loyalty to them both. If the Superior had given an order, I will follow it to a T.

With a soft sigh, I looked back up to Axel and nodded my head in reluctance.

"Alright..." I muttered out, "I shall respect the Superior's wishes."

Axel acknowledged my response with a small smile.

"Heh. You're a good kid, Nami," he said warmly with a pat of my shoulder.

And just like that, the heart-warming moment was shattered, but thankfully in a good way. My eyes widened in bewilderment at the nickname Demyx had gave me and then made a dramatic pouty face.

" _Nami?_ Are you really going to start using it too?" I questioned with crossed arms.

Axel acted all bashful all of a sudden, and he was sheepishly rubbing his neck, "Slip of the tongue..."

I squinted my eyes at me playfully, like I was seriously buying into his excuse.

I made a sly grin, "Right... _Axy_..."

Hearing this made Axel bark a laugh and before I could react, he wrapped an arm around my head and reeled me in, forcing a squeal from me.

"Being a smart aleck now, are we?!" he chuckled and grinded his fist against my noggin, "Mocking your almighty mentor!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Axel!" I exclaimed aloud in half-giggling, half-wincing.

My mentor can act like an immature teenager at times, and that was quite alright in my book. I was quite happy that he was being extremely friendly around me.

Eventually, Axel let go of me, allowing me time to nurse of my head little bit. It was painful, but a Potion was not necessary for it.

"Okay, if we're going by nicknames from now on, I think you'd better come up with a better one than Axy," Axel stated with a smirk, "A really clever one at that."

I nodded my head eagerly and took his words into consideration.

"Hmm... let's see..." I mumbled to myself in deep thought, "How about... Candle Head?"

Axel's eyebrows went up almost instantly, and I swore I heard some of the members in the area sniggering softly to themselves.

"Ha ha, very funny," he said in feigned unamusement, "But I know you can do better than that... _Goldilocks_."

I gasped in surprise, feeling taken aback by his counterattack. Okay, I admit, that was a very good nickname. But let it be said that I still had a plenty of ammo left in my cartridge.

"Hot Head!"

"Golden Kitten."

"Redzee!"

"Sunflower Head."

"Bloodnut!"

"Little Miss Sunshine."

 _"Ahem!"_

Wait a minute, I didn't say that!

We both turned to find Lexaeus staring at both of us, his usual stoicness gracing his hardened features.

"If you are done fooling around with your pupil..." he spoke out gruffly, his blue eyes gazing over to my mentor, "I must set off with her at once to commence her training."

Axel maintained his grin even as the older man began approaching me.

"Oh c'mon Lex man! Way to kill the mood! You gotta lighten up a little!" he exclaimed ecstatically as Lexaeus walked past him.

Stretching out an open palm, he conjured up a Corridor, then lowered it and glanced slightly over his shoulder.

"Unlike you, I know the proper method of instilling discipline and skills into newcomers," he stated cryptically.

I shuddered slightly at his sentence. The _proper_ method? What did he mean by that?

Without another word, Lexaeus walked off into the Corridor.

In normal scenarios, this would be my cue to follow suit, but something about what he said made me feel a little bit uneasy and worried.

This did not go unnoticed by my mentor as he glanced down to me.

Giving me a light pat on the shoulder, he assured, "Never mind what he said, Naminé. Just do as he tells you, and you'll pull off fine!" Looking up him, I asked, "You really think so?"

Axel grinned widely, "You kidding? Of course I do! You've been doing well for a rookie ever since you got here! Why let the momentum die down when you can keep the ball rollin'? Keep impressing the Superior!"

Moved by his words, I felt a new surge of confidence flow through me. I could this! I know it! If I can learn Water magic, then Earth will be a mere stepping stone! And if I could earn Demyx's respect, perhaps I could earn Lexaeus' as well! Besides, he was one of the only members that did not dismiss me as a useless weakling in anyway.

Nodding my head eagerly, I replied back, "Thank you, mentor! I won't let you down!"

Axel ruffled my hair playfully, "I know you won't! Now get a move on before Lexy starts getting cranky!"

With renewed energy, I started rushing off into the Corridor, barely hearing what final words of wisdom Axel shouted to me.

With seconds I emerged out the other end, out into a whole new world. Although, it was quite different from what I was expecting. There were no buildings, no settlement of any kind. The only way to describe this place was just... sand. Sand and a lot of it. And the atmosphere was almost unbearably hot! It didn't help much that I was wearing my black coat in this heat.

 _"Quite the change from the Coliseum and Twilight Town..."_ I thought to myself in slight confoundment as I scanned the open vastness.

Standing right in front of me was Lexaeus, his back was facing me, staring out into the endless deserts.

"Our mission for today is quite simple," he finally spoke out, turning around to gaze at me with a critical look, "A group of Heartless have been spotted loitering around in this viscinity, close to a nearby kingdom. We are to destroy every last one with extreme prejudice."

"Yes mentor," I responded obediently with a small nod.

To this, Lexaeus frowned even harder at my smaller form, like he was attempting to search for any hidden signs of lies and melancholy.

"We shall see," he voiced out sternly, "I know not what that Axel has been teaching when it comes to discipline, but I expect you to behave accordingly as a pupil. Understood?"

There was a trace of something in his tone and his features that gave me no room to argue. Did I even have one to begin with? But instincts told me better that I shouldn't be playing around when someone like Lexaeus was in charge. Shirking off the playfulness and reverting back into my obedient personality, I made a small bow before him.

"Understood, mentor," I responded back as formally as possible.

With that said and done, Lexaeus looked forward once more, only to bear witness to a couple of Shadows and Soldiers popping up from out of nowhere.

My body froze up in sharp alarm, "Heartless!"

Narrowing his blue eyes at them minor monsters, Lexaeus snapped at me, "It seems your first test has just arrived! Prove to me the testament of your training!"

Hearing him say those words made my lips curl up into a determined smile.

"Yes mentor!" I cried out eagerly as I raced past him towards the Heartless.

As I stood before them, I extended out my arm, calling forth Hallowed Light into my hand. The Heartless meanwhile began twitching and shifting in a way that seemed rather odd. As one collective, they formed a circle around me, surrounding from all angles, effectively trapping me with no help. Not that my mentor for the day was going to aid me in taking out these weaker types of Heartless or anything.

But it did not matter to me. It was an opportunity to show me how much Axel had taught me thus far, and I did promise not to let him down. I took on my battle stance and warily darted my eyes around, patiently waiting to see which one was going to get chopped first.

No more than two minutes later, and the first Shadow Heartless struck. It made a leap for me, its claws out and ready to slice at me. But the challenge it presented me waa almost like child's play. Angling my sword back, I took a huge swing at the Shadow once it was close enough.

It exploded in the air like fireworks, to my great satisfaction. As its comrade faded from existence, the other Shadows began pouncing at me, all at once from all sides. But I was more than prepared. Digging my heel deep into the sand, I twirled around, my blade spinning in a graceful arc as it destroyed the Shadows in a single slice.

With the Shadows all gone, I turned my attention to the Soldiers that began advancing forwards. I deflected a clawed strike to my abdomen and kicked away that Soldier, then raced to cut at another that attempted to attack from the side. Then another one tried to pounce at me from behind, but one stab through its chest was enough to send it into oblivion.

The Soldiers kept on coming and coming, unrelenting in their efforts to destroy me. But ever since my previous stunt in Twilight Town, I came into the fight a bit more prepared so I was able to keep their attacks at bay. Wave after wave of attacks, I kept on deflecting every single one of them with ease, and the more I did that, the more confident I became. And dare I say this, I could do this all day. I was really enjoying myself this time around.

"Naminé!" Lexaeus' voice barked strictly all too suddenly, which almost made me lose my focus, "Stop playing around with these simple-minded dullards! Finish them quickly so we may continue on!"

I chanced a glance at Lexaeus, and immediately regretted it. He was looking unhappy and crossed that I was taking too long in this fight.

"I wish Axel was here..." I mumbled dully to myself.

He probably would have told Lexaeus to let me have my fun in the sun, and get told off again in the process. As entertaining as that would be however, it probably would not help me in the long run, seeing as how I would look unfavorable in the older man's eyes.

As I refocused my efforts on the remaining Soldiers, I decided to go all out and hold nothing back. Besides, it also presented me the opportunity to test out my Water magic against real Heartless. As I allowed the channel to flow freely through my arms, I continued to fend off their attacks in a graceful manner.

When I felt moisture forming at my fingertips, I exclaimed out loud, "Aqua!"

Water bubbles shot out of my palm towards the closest Soldiers and the exploding wetness had them reeling backwards. And as a final _coup de grâce_ , I swung my blade around and activated the chain in my sword. Like a bullwhip, I lashed out at a Soldier, and my blade wrapped around it tightly.

With a great heave of effort, I tugged on the chain hard and began to swing it like a wrecking ball into the rest of the Heartless. One by one in a circular motion, they were hit and destroyed like falling dominoes, and when the Soldier enticed in my grip was the only one left, I swung the whip high into the air, and brought it right down onto the ground. The Soldier disappeared into an cloud of sand upon impact, and when it had cleared, it was nowhere to be seen.

Victorious in my battle, I retracted the chain back into the hilt and stood proud and tall at my achievement. If Axel were here, he would have been proud of me. My ears picked up crunches of sand against footsteps, and I looked around to see Lexaeus approaching me. I was almost crestfallen to see the usual stoic look on his features.

"It would seem that Axel has trained your combat skills well, Naminé," he acknowledged bluntly as he gazed down at me, "But do keep in mind that you are out here not to play games. Allowing yourself to be surrounded like that is not the wisest option to pursue when in conflict. You should have struck them down before they even have a chance to attack. There's much you clearly still need to improve on, young one."

Upon hearing his judgement of my performance, I looked down at the ground, suddenly finding my boots to be interesting. So Lexaeus was disappointed in me. It was something that was truly new to me. To be given criticism for any flaws or mistakes that I made.

It made me yearn for Axel's presence even more, but I forced myself to remain vigilant and neutral. He wouldn't have wanted me to get too emotional in front of the other members, especially when it came to them supervising my training. The only reason why I was able to let loose my playful personality around Demyx because he too was a carefree spirit.

"I apologise, mentor," I finally mumbled.

Lexaeus made a loud grunt in response, as if acknowledging that my words were worth dirt to him.

"Keep your wits about you," he said curtly, "We still have a lot of work to do before pressing on."

He stared out into the endless sea of sand and folded his arms. It was time for my lesson to begin.

"Earth is a very complex beast of nature. It encompasses entire forces of nature that shape the very land where we stand," he explained to me, "It is the very source of life, with countless pages of its history hidden beneath the surface."

I hung onto every word as I continued to listen intently. The lecture was interesting to say the least, and I was certain that I read up something about the layers of the earth sometime ago. I should go back to look it up again when the training was over.

"With that said, when compared to the other elements, Earth is vastly more rigid, more steadfast and material-based, and that is something that you will come to understand when trying to command your spells," Lexaeus finished and he turned back to me.

"Tell me young one, what did Demyx teach you about Water?" he quizzed me.

Taking in a deep fresh of air, I began to explain in full detail, "He taught me that Water offers minimal resistance in a channel. It flows freely and without restraint, like a river or a stream."

Lexaeus took about a minute to take this all in.

He nodded his head at me, "Good. So you understand how a channel works. Clearly even a stray puppy can bare a few fangs."

I knew he was commenting on Demyx with that last one.

"But this is where the challenge arises. Earth is different when it comes to channeling its energy. When calling upon its energy, understand that you are basically calling upon the entirety of the world into your very being. It will overtake you and weigh heavily on your emotional capacity without proper toning and conditioning. But obviously you are not ready for that sort of burden Naminé, so we will take this slowly."

I nodded my head in understanding of his statement. I fully expected Earth to be far more difficult to master than Water, but that was not going to be my excuse to fail this lesson. If anything, I'd rather pass out before I gave up.

My hand tightening at the hilt of my sword, I walked closer over to Lexaeus.

"Channeling Earth is a rigorous and serious process. I expect nothing less than perfection and persistence from you," Lexaeus stated.

And from there, training went into full swing. He drilled into me the proper stances for about an hour or so, and not once did he ever stop to call for a break. On occasion there would also be some Heartless that attacked, and as before Lexaeus would be the one watching my performance as I struck them down.

By the end of the practise run, I was covered in sweat all over and I was just about ready fall into the sand to get some sleep. Did I mention that the atmosphere was boiling hot? Needless to say, Lexaeus was not impressed by my weakened state.

"To give in to your weakness is to die in combat," he admonished lightly, "How will you be able to perform well in your future missions if you cannot handle a few basic drills?"

Guilt and shame course through my veins as I struggled to pull myself together.

Breathlessly, I pulled out the Elixir bottle that Luxord gave to me and downed the remaining contents.

My strength returned, I looked back to my mentor and said, "Apologies mentor. I just felt little a bit tired."

Lexaeus did not seemed convinced, but ultimately he chose to let it slide.

"Now that you know the basic stances, it is time for your first true test," he said, "In order for you to truly channel the energy of this world, you must be fully connected to it. You need to be steady and strong. Earth is a stubborn element. If you wish to channel it, you need to be like the Earth itself **(1)**. Observe."

Getting himself into a stance, he took in a few deep breaths to calm his mind, to act like a rock. And then with all of his strength, he lifted a foot and stomped hard into the ground. It caused a huge gigantic plateau to shoot out of the ground some distance away in a great explosion. I gasped out in terrified amazement.

With his demonstration done, he turned to look at me.

"Now you try it," he said and folded his arms, "Focusing on your breathing and will your body to be as steadfast as marble."

Nodding my head with determination, I willed Hallowed Light disappear from my hand. Staring up at the huge plateau to register it in my memory, I closed my eyes tightly and mimicked the stance that Lexaeus made.

Just as how he did it, I willed myself to calm all of my senses, all of my nerves until all activity in my head came to a standstill. As I connected myself to the world, no longer could I hear the breeze of the winds in my wind nor the voice of my teacher. In their place, I could _feel_ it. The very core of the world, and all of its majestic grace as it flowed into me from the soles of my feet.

At once I felt a sense of raw power and steength coursing through my veins. It came at me in full force without any warning, and it was threatening to break down my mentality. But I was prepared and had reinforced my mind. Eventually, the power gave in to my connection, and I became one with it. Just as before with Water, I allowed the energy to dictate my every move.

The energy founded its source at my legs, and it fed into untold strength. Promptly I raised my leg and prepared to bring it roght down. And then the energy intensified, the bond with me growing more as it prepared to discharge out of me.

I snapped my eyes open and shouted, "Earth!"

My foot hammered into the ground, and from the sands large jagged rocks sprung out in full force all around me like a protective shell, threatening to bite into anything within its range. Lexaeus was thankfully not close enough to get punctured, but he still took a step back in surprise.

As the dust cleared, I carefully stepped in between the rocks until I managed to break free. I looked on at my mentor who was staring at the newly formed rocks with utter amazement, eagerly expecting to await his judgement.

"I-Incredible..." he muttered under his breath to himself, "I never would have expected that..."

And then he noticed me staring at me, which prompted him to recompose himself.

Clearing his throat, he stoically said, "I'll admit, I had expected to barely even form a small rock pillar on your first try. But this is quite a commendable effort."

"Commendable?" I parroted in confusion.

Lexaeus narrowed his eyes and frowned at me, "Naminé, you mastered the Quake ability on your first attempt. It should not have been possible, considering that the energy would have been too much for newcomers to bear with. But you on the other hand were able to connect with that energy easily."

A look of surprise and amazement crossed my features as he continued to comment on my performance. Was he actually _praising_ me? Although he did not look or act the part, I was able to sense a hint of wonderment in his facial expression and in his tone.

Could this be it? Another member that would not look at me the same way as before like Demyx did?

That was usually when things started taking an ugly turn.

All of a sudden, a massive giant hand shot out of the sand. I cried out in terror and Lexaeus instinctively jumped right in front of me in protection.

As we both watched, the hand pressed down against the ground and gradually, the rest of the body emerged. A gargantuan creature that looked as though it was cladded in a white bodysuit, a large, silver zipper lining its front. Its simple, round head's only feature was the white Nobody sigil on its front where the its face should have be.

Wait a minute, a _Nobody sigil_?!

Lexaeus seemed to have noticed this too, as he growled out, "What is this monstrosity?! Who summoned it here?!"

The only response he got was thorns been firing erratically direcrly at us. Seeing the attack coming my mentor swiftly grabbed hold of me by the waist and leapt out of the way, just barely missing the thorns that struckt the spot that we had been standing on.

Letting go of me he turned his attention back to the massive Nobody.

"Naminé! Return back to the Castle immediately!" he ordered me hurriedly and proceeded to create a Corridor behind me.

My eyes glanced between the giant monster and the Corridor, indecision and worry gripping at my hollow shell.

He wanted me to just _leave_ him to face it on his own?! No way! Not when he needed all the help that he could get!

"Not without you!" I screamed back in protest.

Lexaeus shot me a glare, one that was filled with raw anger and... fear?

"This is not up for a debate!" he snapped at me strictly, "You will leave! NOW!"

I still was not ready to move an inch.

"B-But what about-"

"That is an ORDER, young one!"

Raising a hand that was suddenly covered in dark aura, he planted it right down into the ground which produced a massive vortex of darkness underneath him. And from the nothingness and he removed his hand. In his grip was a weapon that looked like a cross between a sword and an axe. He slung it over his shoulder and got into his battle stance.

"Now let us see what you can do, monster!" he growled out and he advanced forth.

As my mentor and the creature began to duel, I quickly remembered the last thing he said to me. His order, that I was obligated to comply with. Against my better wishes, I knew I had no choice, but that didn't mean that I could not help in some other way.

Turning on my heels, I quickly dashed off into the Corridor and arrived back in the Lounge Room.

Without even bothering to compose my senses, I yelled out at the top of my lungs, "HELP!"

At that instance, every Organization member in the vicinity quickly directed their eyes at me.

"Whoa now, Blondie!" Xigbar called out from his place on one of the couches, "What's gotten you all riled up?"

"Please, I need help!" I pleaded to him and everyone else, "Mentor Lexaeus is in trouble!"

Luxord raised his eyebrows at me from the game table with piqued interest and asked, " _Trouble_ you say?"

"That brutish troll can take care of himself, we all know that!" Larxene snapped cynically at me, "What makes you think this time will be any different, _Number XIII?_ "

I winced a little at the way she enunciate my number. She spoke vehemently of it that exact same way before she...

Shaking away those thoughts, I explained quickly, "Lexaeus was training to use Earth spells when a giant creature appeared all of a sudden."

Larxene scoffed at this, "Pfft! So a Darkside attacked. So what? We've all handled giant Heartless before!"

"Y-You don't understand!" I protested desperately, my composure was wearing thin by that point, "This thing didn't have a Heartless emblem on it. It had our Nobody sigil."

There a loud choking sound and half the room turned to Demyx who lying lazily in his own couch. Right now his eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Say what?!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Luxord stroked his chin, "It seems to me that we have another one on the loose."

I turned to him with a look of confusion. Another one?

Xigbar barked out a laugh and leapt to his feet.

"Bout time! Another hunt for stray pets!" he declared with a pure grin of excitement as he cracked his knuckles, "What's say we go reel in the new catch?!"

Without even bothering to await a reply, he jogged off into the Corridor.

Luxord slid his deck of cards back into his coat and got up from the games table.

"Another wild card would be beneficial to our cause," he commented with a shrug and brisked his way over to the portal.

Larxene grumbled something under her breath and stood up from her chair. As she walked past me, she shot me an icy glare, and her fingers at her side slightly crackled with lightning. I wince a little at the sight, and fought to keep that memory from resurfacing again.

Demyx who was the last one remaining, lazily got to his feet and walked on over to me.

"Well, so much for having an off day," he lamented with a dramatic sigh, then brightened up with a playful grin, "But fighting alongside the big boys is sure gonna be quite a show!"

I nodded my head with an encouraging smile, "And I'm certain a bit of music will lighten up the atmosphere a little."

Hearing this made the blonde sitarist's eyes gleam.

"A request from the little lady, eh?" he remarked knowingly with a chuckle, "Sure! Anything for ya, girl!"

Just as he was starting to walk over to the Corridor, he gasped as though he suddenly remembered something.

"Ooh, right! Almost forgot!" he exclaimed and put two fingers to his mouth.

He blew a loud whistle and immediately a Dusk appeared before him.

"Alright you! Go tell that Book Worm that we've got another rogue Nobody to catch! And make sure he doesn't take his own sweet time again!" he ordered it like an eccentric boss.

The Dusk bowed slightly before him in compliance before slinking off down the hall.

Turning back to me, he said, "C'mon Naminé! Time to strike up the band and rock this world!"

We both raced into the Corridor back to where Lexaeus was. Immediately we arrived into a sea of chaos and anarchy.

Thorns were being shot all over the place, with both Lexaeus and Luxord front and center of the action. Whilst my mentor was tossing big chunks of rock and swinging wildly with his Axe Sword, Luxord provided cover and shot out his cards from long range.

All while Larxene and Xigbar were being suspended high in the air, their hands and feet in glowing restraints. They were busy bickering about something I could not make out.

Demyx whistled quietly as he observed the carnage, "Looks like the party started without us."

I merely shrugged my shoulders and summoned my sword.

"Let's bring down this giant!" I said boldly.

Demyx grinned back in eagerness and summoned his beloved sitar. We both rushed into the fight and began targeting the creature's body all around.

I started with its feet and started working my way up the length of its form. I performed every combo hit that I could think of, every single hack and slash tactic, as my running legs carried me sideways all the way to the top. For a brief moment, I was quite shocked that I was even capable of running vertically, but I quickly brushed it aside. There was a lot of story that I was going to tell Axel about later on.

As I continued working my way up its legs, Demyx continued to play on his sitar like a crazy maniac. Every stroke of a string, every tune, directed his water forms to unleash everything they had on the legs. One brief glance at him and I knew that he having quite the time of his life.

* * *

Larxene was glaring down at the sitarist, looking rather annoyed and irritated by his melodies. Her arms sore and burning from trying to break just so she could plug up her ears, she was now contemplating how to destroy that stupid sitar.

Xigbar from beside her, grinned at the suffering she was enduring.

"Oh dear Larxy!" he taunted her with feigned affection and concern, "Did the bad guitarist finally get to you?"

Larxene spun on him and glared daggers into his only eye.

"If we weren't being strung up like this, I would've ripped out your thorax and your other eyeball!" she sneered, "Oh and by the way, I'm still blaming _you_ for getting us into this mess!"

"Hah! As if!" Xigbar scoffed back, "I wasn't the one who used all-powerful lightning to get all of its attention focused on you!"

Larxene hissed back savagely at him through gritted teeth.

* * *

As I reached the shoulder level of the creature, I ducked and dodged several thorns that shot out past me towards Luxord. With sword in hand, I started dealing major damage right at the overgrown head. The skin bubbled and rippled from every strike, but it didn't look like my blade left cuts in it.

"Naminé! What are you doing here?!" Lexaeus' voice shouted at me.

Pausing in my strikes, I turned around just to see my mentor land on the shoulder. He had a furious look on his face.

"Did I not order you to return to the Castle?!" he questioned.

Seeing him glaring at me like this made me a bit guilty to defy a direct order from a superior. But then reasoning and logic took hold of my thoughts.

"I did Mentor Lexaeus, but I knew that you needed some help!" I professed truthfully, and pointed down at Demyx and Luxord, both of whom were keeping the creature's eyes (if it had any) focused on them for the time being.

Lexaeus closed his eyes tightly as he acknowledged my reasoning, but then he admonished me in a calmer tone, "But that does not mean you should risk your life by joining the fray as well! This is a real battle for experienced fighters, young one! You are not ready for this sort of conflict!"

"That may be, but it'll never stop me from abandoning those that need help the most!" I shot back with a look of bravery, "Besides, I'm unlike any other newbie that ever joined the Organization! I can take care of myself!"

Lexaeus opened his mouth to argue back, but then a thorn shot out at him from out nowhere. Thankfully he had time to deflect it with his oversized weapon before he looked back to me. Through his eyes I could tell that he knew that this was hardly the time for arguing. Not when there was still a fight going on.

"Naminé!" Demyx called out my name from ground level, "A little help here?!"

I spun my head back down below, my eyes widening at the sight of my friend and Luxord being encircled by the thorns.

The latter was smirking widely at the threat being imposed, "A challenge is it?"

Noticing this as well, Lexaeus said to me, "I will aid them and keep this thing's focus on us, meanwhile you target the head. It's its only weak spot."

I narrowed my eyes fearlessly and nodded my head. And with that, Lexaeus leapt down from the shoulder and made a beeline for the enclosing thorns.

I continued slicing away at the head of the creature, hoping that somehow the damages dealt would weaken it eventually.

Down below, Lexaeus destroyed the thorns by conjuring countless meteoroids that rained down unrelentingly. Now freed, Demyx and Luxord joined up with him and together they advanced towards the creature's legs.

But then all of a sudden, there was a blinding white light that enveloped the entire area, and I shut my eyes tight. A split second later, and I opened my lids again... only to find myself in the same predicament as Larxene and Xigbar. I was not surprised to see Lexaeus, Demyx and Luxord as well being held up in the sky and their limbs restrained.

"So..." Xigbar began speaking casually and he turned to me, "... how's life been holding you up?"

Luxord and Larxene rolled their eyes in exasperation.

We all glared to the creature in front of eyes, thinking that we were going to stuck in a staring contest for a long while.

And then it suddenly began to make its first physical move. Its arm pulled back, as though it were preparing to punch us. "Great, so _now_ it starts moving!" Xigbar groaned out, "All our efforts, wasted!" Larxene glared at the sharpshooter, feeling the great sting of irony in his words.

Ignoring the banter going on, my face scrunched up with intense anguish as I began to struggle against my bonds. It felt like I was trying to move a mountain, but I could careless. Someone needed to save our butts before that creature could deal us a heavy blow.

Luxord took notice of this and frowned.

"Try as you might lass, it is a futile effort," he stated calmly, "Not even Lexaeus is strong enough to break our bonds."

As comforting as he wanted to ease my conscience, I was not going to let it get to me.

This couldn't be it! It could not end this way! Not when I still had a long way to go! And then the creature's fingerless fist began to swing right at us, and everybody braced themselves.

 _ **"BAM!"**_

The creature was sent reeling back some distance away by some unknown force, which left me stunned. What... what happened? That was when I noticed that everyone (including Larxene) were staring in my direction, their eyes wide and their mouths agape.

"Astounding..." Luxord gasped with apparent amazement and glanced down to my legs. I followed him and gasped at the view of my legs dangling freely without their restraints. And then in an instant, my memory returned back to me, and I realised what had transpired.

 _"I..._ kicked _it..."_ I thought in shock, _"But..."_ The creature recovered from its stupor and extended out it arms like tendrils. Larxene shouted out for me to look out, but it was already too late. The fists grabbed my body tightly, and I began to struggle in its grip. Unbeknownst to myself, my body was starting to give off a yellowish glow, which did not went unnoticed by the other stunned members.

Seconds later, the arms pulled the rest of the body forwards until it came within a few meters of me. Its head leaned towards me just a tiny bit, as though to curiously analyse me, before it tossed me high into the air. "Naminé!" Demyx cried out in terror as he and the others tensely watched me hurtle into the air.

As gravity began pulling me back down again, a feeling of lightheadedness coursed through my body.

 _"If only Axel were here, I could've made an "I can see my house from here" joke,"_ I thought mirthlessly as I began plummeting back downwards.

Against the winds that caused my blonde hair to billow out like a flag, my eyes were fixated on the creature down below. They began to widen when it suddenly launchrd itself from the surface, and created a giant ball of deadly energy in its arm tendrils as it flew to greet me.

 _"Oh no, what am I going to do?"_ I wondered desperately in my head.

I could think of no possible solution, no alternative to fend of this rogue Nobody. Maybe this was it... Maybe it was time to accept my fate...

Solemnly, I closed my eyes and wrapped my arma around my chest, waiting with resignation for the end...

... and then I froze.

My eyes shot open and then looked down to my arms. They were free now! And that meant there was only one crazy idea that I could put into action!

Calling forth Hallowed Light, I aimed my blade directly at that big sigil on its head. It may symbolise what category it belonged to, but to me it was just a big fat bullseye target.

Pulling my blade back, I steadied myself and waited patiently. This was probably the only chance I had to save myself and take this thing down, but I needed to time it just right, or else I was still going to perish either way.

I held back as I got closer to the creature, and I started doing a mental countdown in my head.

 _5..._

... ...

 _4..._

 _... ..._

 _3..._

The ball of death was just about a hundred meters or so from my position.

 _2..._

 _... ..._

I narrowed my eyes as the light of the orb filled my vision, threatening to burn out my eyes from my sockets.

 _1!_

With a war cry, I activate my chain and whipped it right into the huge energy ball. The blade penetrated into the core and destroyed it before hitting right home in the centre of the creature's sigil.

Within seconds the creature was stunned from the blow and its tendrils flailed wildly, which caused its energy ball to dissipate.

Smirking at widely at its reeling, I activated the retracting mechanism which began pulling me straight towards the head.

As the creature began tumbling back down to the ground, I landed safely on the head and began dealing devestating strikes. Each one more deadly than the last. I felt a great swell of energy fuelling my attacks from within my form, and it was very reinvigorating.

We kept on descending downwards until finally the creature landed on its legs. But I wasn't going to allow it to get a second wind though.

Raising my blade up high, I casted, "Earth!"

The ground beneath the creature gave way and large stone daggers began shooting out and plunge into its exposed legs.

From the sudden force, the creature buckled from thr imbalance and fell forwards. I held onto my blade which was still embedded in its head as tightly as I could, just as it hit the ground with a massive thunderous "Boom!"

Finally incapacitated, its magic died out and released Demyx and the others. I wasn't that surprised as I watched them drop out of the sky like flies, one by one."Ouch!" Demyx cried out painfully as he landed on his butt, while Xigbar landed on his chest, and Larxene, Luxord and Lexaeus all landed on their backs.

Quickly recovering first, Lexaeus casted a Cure spell, which effectively healed the others of any potential injury sustainrd by the fall.

As soon as everyone had recovered, they all went up to meet me, as I continued panting and gripping onto my blade tightly with a look of exhileration on my face.

"Whoa man! You did it Naminé!" Demyx cheered me on with joy and excitement, "You just took down a freaking giant!"

As I slowly recovered from my moment of exhileration, I took in the reactions of all the other members.

Xigbar looked as though he had been through hell and came back barely alive.

Larxene acted as though this whole thing was just a dream.

Luxord wasted no time to express his admiration for my performance through his grin.

Lexaeus looked as though he had a long story to tell to the Superior after this.

Removing my sword, I slowly started climbing down from the creature's body. Once I reached the ground, I was met by an overjoyed Demyx who caught me in a tight embrace.

"Yeah Naminé! I knew you had it in ya!" he exclaimed joyously, "We'll make a deadly warrior outta you yet!"

"T-Thanks for the vote of confidence Demyx..." I croaked out, as I felt my lungs clog up, "Now could you please... let me go?"

As the sitarist released his grip of me, another voice suddenly called out, "Well well... what have we here?"

Everyone turned around to see Zexion as he emerged from the still opened Corridor. In his arm he carried a peculiar looking book that was dark-green in color.

Lexaeus nodded his greetings to him as Xigbar spoke out, "Got another one for ya, Book Worm! And man oh man is it the biggest one yet!"

Nodding his head absentmindedly, the Cloaked Schemer brisked past me and the others until he just about a few inches away from the creature.

Taking the book into his hands, he flipped it open until he founded a blank page. He started chanting something in a dialect that I couldn't understand, and dark tendrils began shooting out of his book.

They swirled around the creature's body until it became a raging vortex. But as quickly as it came, it returned into the pages, the creature along with it.

Staring with satisfaction and the newly added image of the creature on the blank page, Zexion closed the book and turned back to face us.

"Vexen and I will begin our research on this rogue Nobody as soon as I return to the labs," he informed us, "It will take at least a few days for us to draft out any possible information about it."

Lexaeus nodded his head, "I meanwhile will report to the Superior as to what has transpired this day. Which reminds me..."

He turned to face me, his stoic personality returning in full force, "I will admit today's training did not play out as I had expected, but regardless of that I must commend you for an admirable performance Naminé. I can see why the Superior has much confidence in your abilities."

My mouth opened in a small gape, and my eyes widening at his declaration. Had Lexaeus just given me his full trust?

Noticing my reaction, my mentor made a small lighthearted chuckle. "You still have a long way to go before you can ever reach our level of prowess and experience," he stated plainly, "But considering your extraordinary ability to excel at a faster rate than others, I have little doubt you won't disappoint us. Spend some of your free time when you can to continue training on your magic and if need be, I will be there to guide you along as best as I can."

"Me too! Don't forget the Maestro of Water!" Demyx chimed in with a wave of his hand.

Giggling softly at his small antic, I replied back happily, "Sure! Of course!"

Maybe things were starting to turn around for me after all! Now if only I could start avoiding Larxene's shock therapies...

* * *

"Whoa! Whoa there Demmy boy!" I exclaimed aloud with raised hands, "Calm down and back it up just a bit! So you're saying that Lexaeus was taken by surprise? Like really _surprised_ surprise?"

Demyx panted hard from spouting out every single detail about what happened today. He looked as though he could pass out on the couch at anytime, but he had enough strength to nod his head in response.

Man, came back after a lengthy stealth hike into Maleficent's clubhouse and Demyx rambling for thirty straight minutes is the first thing I get? At first I was tempted to start cursing out whatever deity up there that was putting me up with this shtick, but then my mind did a back-flip (not literally of course 'cos that would be stupid) once I heard the name of my pupil.

So naturally I started to get real serious and take in everything that the Demster was throwing my way, and suffice to say... I was quite caught by surprise myself.

Naminé? My prized pupil? Stunning good ol' Mr Stoic Face Lexy into amazement? For a moment I swore that I was either dreaming or that I had somehow stumbled into an alternate reality.

Nobody (no pun intended) and I mean _nobody_ (again no pun intended!), could easily manifest any change in facial expression of that gorilla aside from being stoic. It just wasn't in his character at all.

And yet of all people in the entire universe, _Naminé_ was the one to break the mold?

It seemed to good to be true, so I decided to pry a little bit more now that the sitarist had calmed his butt.

"So what happened out there today, huh?" I inquired further, "What did my student do to impress Lex?"

"I don't have all the details but I do know that Lexaeus sent her packing after some giant rogue Nobody showed up! She RTC'd back here and started pleading for our aid! Naturally Larxy dismissed as some sort of Darkside Heartless that was attacking, but your student said that that monster bore our sigil! So from there, Xiggy, Larxy, Luxord and myself followed her back to Lex and we helped them in the attack as best we could! Unfortunately the monster got the jump on us first and was about to finish the job when Naminé started going all Bruce Lee on it! It was like nothing I've ever seen man!"

I stared at him in absolute speechless, unknowing of what to make of this knowledge.

"You sure you're tellin' the truth?"

"C'mon, dude! Of course I am! I mean would I be lying if I was eagerly divulging all of this to you?!"

I folded my arms and stared at the ground thoughtfully. Well, he got me there on that point.

"Seriously, I think she's startin' to grow on Lexy!" Demyx remarked with a nudge of his elbow, "He even offered to help continue to improve on her abilities if she needed him! And he never ever does that, does he?"

"Yeah... I guess so..." I concurred softly with a stroke of my chin.

This was seriously some huge news to take in. Naminé's training was accelerating full-speed ahead like clockwork. No doubt the Superior was going to be doing more than just hopping out of his chair and start dancing around in joy (if he ever did that). At this rate Naminé was just about set to become one of the best members of the Organization.

So why was it that I was acting so... worried and concerned all of a sudden? There was just this feeling at the back of my mind that somewhere down the line, fate was going to rear its ugly head...

Nah, who was I kidding?! Of course I was going to be proud of my student! Pretty soon every single member here would look to me as the one who taught and trained the top tier Nobody in Nobody history!

But celebration would have to wait however, considering that Naminé had already retired to her bedroom for the night. And that gave me ample time to think up of a perfect way to celebrate her achievements. I'm sure she would love that.

But for now however... I quickly became very serious again.

Had a report to give to Saïx and all that.

What was it about this Pureblood Heartless sitting in that clubhouse's basement anyways?

* * *

 **Well well, it looks like our Naminé is making some serious headway into her training! First Demyx and now Lexaeus? Who would be next to fall victim to her feats of success?**

 **(1) That sentence was inspired by a quote from a favorite animated TV series that I love down to the core! Can you guess what it is?  
**

 **Naminé has stepped up to her first real taste of battle, and I assure you the next real challenge is not that far away! Mwahahahah! And apparently she's gotten herself onto Larxene's radar! Oh no!**

 **Ahem! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Again, please feel free to leave a review and give suggestions on how I can further improve on my story! They're always appreciate!**

 **And to reassure you guys, I sincerely affirm that I will NOT abandon this story!**

 **So long for now!**


	9. A Bargain Struck

**Okay, so I'm going to be doing things tad bit different.**

 **Aside from** **Naminé and the Organization, there will be subplots centering around other characters (mainly Sora and Riku) as we go along.**

 **And why am I doing this you may ask? Well, considering that this IS a Kingdom Hearts fic, I would like to make each chapter feel like its own cutscenes like in the games themselves. They may not look like much, but I try my best.**

 **For this one, it'll be exploring the deal struck between Maleficent and Riku, as well as the beginnings of the evil witch's manipulation of Riku. Or rather, at least how I presume it all went down.**

 **And now... let the chapter commence!**

* * *

 **Hollow Bastion**

Impression was the thing that Maleficent was feeling right now. It had only been about a week or two since she and her brethren had begun keeping tabs on this chosen wielder of the Light. And needless to say, she was quite surprised by how much he had been progressing.

That young lad and those anthropomorphic friends of his had been jumping from world to world at a faster rate than anticipated. But the worry that he could become powerful enough to thwart her plans, never once crossed her mind. If it came down to it, she would be able to find loopholes in setbacks that she could exploit.

"What drew the Heartless to that world?" wondered her second-in-command Jafar as he joined her and two others around their small, rounded conference table.

"The hunter lured them there," Maleficent responded curtly, her thoughts briefly going back to how that brash and arrogant Clayton had easily fallen to the Chosen's Keyblade.

"It was his lust for power that was the bait," she concluded, "But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."

And so it was. Even with that giant monstrosity of a chameleon Heartless at his side, Clayton in his brief moment of glory, had let his pride get the better of him. And to think that Captain Hook of all people had actually proposed including him into their ranks...

The third member, Oogie Boogie let out a hearty cackle, "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

Jafar stroked his beard with a thoughtful hum before he took a step out of the shadows.

"A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless," he noted, and then his eyes narrowed with sudden concern.

"But the boy is a problem. He found one of the Keyholes," he cautioned sternly, now switching the topic back onto the Chosen.

Maleficent was unfazed by his warning, letting out a smirk.

"Fear not. It will take him ages to find the rest," she stated assuredly, and conjured up a holographic manifestation of the heroic trio atop the table, "Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."

Their eyes gazed over their walking forms for a moment.

"Yes, the princesses..." Ursula, the fourth member, agreed.

A wide, eager grin was plastered on her face. Oh how she could hardly wait for that moment when all the worlds would be theirs for the taking! Maleficent smiled even wider, apparently sharing the same line of thought as well.

"They are falling into our hands, one by one," she proclaimed victoriously, like the war was already won.

It would be the crowning achievement of a decade of calculated planning. She should be thanking that old Master for setting her on this path back then, but she chose not to.

She had not heard of him since that day, and she knew something must have befallen him. She on the other hand was close, so very close. The worlds will fall to darkness, and her forces of evil will reign supreme over all. It was fitting, considering that amongst the pair that had ambitions with the darkness, only one of them would come out on top.

Just then, there was a shuffling of feet behind her, and Maleficent and her allies turned around to greet their newest arrival. The girl whom Riku had been sent after. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she was frantically looking around, fearfully wondering where she currently was.

"Speaking of which..." Maleficent commented with a grin, and so did her allies.

Another one had already fallen into their grasp so quickly. If they could keep at this rate, total domination would be just a hop, skip and a boat ride away. Footsteps came in just behind the girl, and her captor made himself known to his superiors.

"I got her, just like you asked," Riku declared bluntly.

Maleficent nodded her head, but said nothing in reply. She strode up swiftly towards the girl, who attempted to back away out of fright for the witch. She did not get very far before Riku grabbed hold of her arms and held her in position.

Helpless blue eyes locked onto intimidating yellow ones for a brief moment, before the Mistress of All Evil pointed her staff and casted a spell. Within seconds, the girl's eyes closed shut and her mind drifted off into an endless slumber. Her tense body relaxed, which allowed Riku to slacken his grip on her arms.

With a flap of her robes, Maleficent turned back around to address her allies.

"Bring this girl to the main chamber and put her with the other princesses," she ordered Jafar, "As for the rest of you, this meeting is adjourned. Return to your respective worlds and prepare for the Chosen's arrival."

As the others began filing out, with Jafar using his magic to levitate the sleeping girl out, Maleficent turned her attention back to Riku.

"I suppose I should commend you for accomplishing your task," she acknowledged, "Taking a Princess of Heart out of her own world is nary a simple task or a grand venture, especially when the Chosen is out and about."

That was when her eyes took notice of a sort of glint in Riku's eyes.

"Whatever is the matter, child?" she asked with feigned concern, "Is there a matter that is ailing you?"

Riku's fist clenched tightly, and he struggled to keep his anger from building up inside him.

"Yeah, it's this "Chosen" person you're always talking about..." he responded with restrained anger.

But darkness in his heart was filling to the brim, all but ready to spill out at any moment. Maleficent smirked inwardly to herself as she sensed this, but refrained from commenting on it. His powers were growing out of control... Good. The next step would be to controlling it.

Eventually, Riku's composure shattered like glass and he bellowed out, "WHEN WERE YOU GONNA TELL ME THAT THE CHOSEN ONE WAS SORA?!"

In spite of this act of disrespect, Maleficent maintained her calm demeanor.

"Whatever are you talking about, child?" she questioned in mild confusion.

"Don't act like you don't know what's going on out there!" Riku snarled angrily, "I saw my friend in that world, along with those walking animal people! He had that **key** in his hands! Is he the one that you're fighting against cos if so then I want no part of this!"

He turned on his heels and began marching off, filled with renewed determination to find and reunite with Sora. That was, until Maleficent's voice called after him, "So that is how it is, is it? You are just going to run off and find him?"

Riku shot a glare back at the witch, "Yes!"

He didn't need her anymore, now that he knew Sora had the Keyblade.

Maleficent smiled at this action, as though she was more amused than threatened.

"I suppose I cannot stop you..." she lamented with fake reluctance, "Unless of course I were to tell you that that friend of yours no longer requires your friendship."

That made Riku halt in his tracks.

He slowly turned to her, a dark look had crossed his face.

"What do you mean by that?" he questioned.

Smiling curtly, Maleficent turned her attention back to the table and waved her free hand.

There was a puff of smoke before she called back to him, "Come child. See for yourself."

Riku cautiously hesitated for a brief moment before he quietly strode up to her side. His eyes were immediately fixated on the holographic projections of his friend and the other two sidekicks.

"As you can plainly see, your friend is quite occupied with spending his time of enjoyment with those other two imbeciles," Maleficent explained, as the projection flickered between moments where the trio were either laughing or fighting as one, "In fact, he is enjoying his little adventure so much, he has forgotten all about his _other_ two friends altogether."

Riku's eyes were widening in denial, both in reaction to Maleficent's words, and in surprise to just how much fun Sora appeared to be happening whilst he was stuck here. No... NO! There was no way...! Surely Sora must have been travelling across the worlds to find both Kairi and himself... isn't he?

Maleficent used the darkness to peer deep into his heart once more. She was quite pleased with the results her deception had produced. His darkness was just churning like a raging storm at sea, fuelled by growing paranoia, hatred and jealousy. Subtly, she magnified those emotions as well as his darker thoughts, making them grow ten times more powerful than before.

Her work done for now, she would now let time do of the rest of the work for her. Breaking their pathetic little bond of friendship was so simple and so easy. All that she needed to do now was to let all of the pieces to fall into place. Patience was one of her greatest specialities after all.

Shaking his head in vigorous denial, Riku tore his gaze from the projections and practically yelled in Maleficent's face, "NO! Y-You're lying! Sora would never abandon me or Kairi just like that! He's p-probably just world-hopping to find us this instant!"

The witch's yellow eyes glinted evilly from within the shadows.

"Oh my dear child, how your "friendship" has led you astray..." she sighed, "The sheer importance of the duty of the Chosen has clearly blinded, or should I say... distracted your friend from putting the needs of yourself and Kairi ahead of those other two."

Riku could not believe what he was hearing, and Maleficent's words struck him to the core. As much as he hated to admit it... she was right. Sensing his growing distress at his predicament, Maleficent seized the opportunity to appeal to his loyalty.

"But it need not be that way, my child," she cooed softly and she leaned closer to him, "I could help you."

Riku was motionless for a brief moment, his mind contemplating every bit of information that was being fed to him. He looked back to her, a frown of uncertainty plastered on his features.

"To get back Sora and Kairi?" he questioned.

"You need not worry about the Chosen One. Given his progress, the other should be your priority for now. Which brings me to my offer," the Mistress of All Evil responded, "In your heart lies a powerful darkness that is just waiting to be awakened. Master control over it, and you shall become powerful enough to save Kairi. Take a moment to think on it. Your power and Kairi... we can give both to you."

Riku lowered his head to ponder over his options. Maleficent? Helping him control the darkness? That... was actually not a bad idea. After all, he needed to be strong enough if he was to save Sora from those two sidekicks of his, as well as Kairi... wherever she was.

He still did not trust her, not even for a second, but at this point he might not have a choice. If he parted company with her lot, there was a chance he might never run into another person who was strong with the darkness. Within those couple of seconds, he made his decision.

Looking back up to her, he nodded his head. "Fine. Deal," he said darkly, "But if this somehow turns out to be some sort of trick..."

Maleficent swiftly made a courteous bow, "Why of course not, child! I would not dare dream of keeping you from the ones that you lost. And to show that I bear no ill will, I too shall send my forces into scouring for your other friend. Would that be fair enough?"

Riku narrowed his eyes at her for any signs of foul play, until he finally sighed deeply with a small nod.

"First of all, they are my _friends_ , not companions," he snapped at her with a pointed finger, "And second, stop calling me "child" - the name's Riku."

Maleficent smiled wryly, "As you say... Riku."

There, the seeds have been planted into the ground. Now all she had to do was wait and watch them sprout and grow. And then it would only be a matter of time before she sets him loose on the Chosen, and she would relish in every second of their bond shattering into pieces.


End file.
